Road to 1947: The Indian Freedom Struggle: questions and answers
Study every question with its correct answer and explanation.
1. The revolt of 1857 broke out as a large-scale sepoy uprising on 10 May 1857 at which cantonment?
- A. Barrackpore
- B. Delhi
- C. Kanpur
- D. Meerut
Answer: Meerut
On 10 May 1857 sepoys at Meerut rose in revolt and marched to Delhi, where they proclaimed the aged Bahadur Shah Zafar as their leader. Earlier, in March 1857, the sepoy Mangal Pandey had attacked British officers at Barrackpore near Calcutta.
2. Who presided over the first session of the Indian National Congress in 1885?
- A. Dadabhai Naoroji
- B. W. C. Bonnerjee
- C. Surendranath Banerjee
- D. A. O. Hume
Answer: W. C. Bonnerjee
The first session of the Congress met in Bombay in December 1885 with 72 delegates and was presided over by Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee. Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British civil servant, played a leading role in founding the organisation.
3. Which Viceroy carried out the Partition of Bengal in 1905?
- A. Lord Curzon
- B. Lord Minto
- C. Lord Hardinge
- D. Lord Ripon
Answer: Lord Curzon
Lord Curzon's partition took effect on 16 October 1905 and triggered the Swadeshi and Boycott Movement, during which Rabindranath Tagore urged people to tie rakhis as a symbol of unity. The partition was annulled in 1911, the same year the decision was announced to shift the capital from Calcutta to Delhi.
4. The All-India Muslim League was founded in 1906 in which city?
- A. Lahore
- B. Aligarh
- C. Dhaka
- D. Lucknow
Answer: Dhaka
The All-India Muslim League was founded at Dhaka on 30 December 1906, at a gathering hosted by Nawab Khwaja Salimullah. In 1916 the Congress and the League came together in the Lucknow Pact.
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5. In protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919, Rabindranath Tagore gave up which honour?
- A. His Nobel Prize
- B. His knighthood
- C. The Kaisar-i-Hind medal
- D. His Oxford doctorate
Answer: His knighthood
On 13 April 1919, troops under General Reginald Dyer fired on an unarmed crowd at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, and Tagore renounced the knighthood he had received in 1915. Mahatma Gandhi returned his Kaisar-i-Hind medal in 1920 during the Non-Cooperation Movement.
6. Mahatma Gandhi called off the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922 after a violent incident at which place?
- A. Champaran
- B. Kheda
- C. Bardoli
- D. Chauri Chaura
Answer: Chauri Chaura
In February 1922 a crowd set fire to the police station at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district of present-day Uttar Pradesh, killing several policemen, and Gandhi withdrew the movement because it had turned violent. Gandhi's first satyagraha in India was at Champaran in Bihar in 1917, on behalf of indigo cultivators.
7. From where did Mahatma Gandhi begin the Dandi March on 12 March 1930?
- A. Sabarmati Ashram
- B. Sevagram Ashram
- C. Phoenix Settlement
- D. Tolstoy Farm
Answer: Sabarmati Ashram
Gandhi set out from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad with 78 followers and reached Dandi on the Gujarat coast on 6 April 1930, where he broke the salt law. The march launched the Civil Disobedience Movement across India.
8. At which session did the Indian National Congress adopt the 'Purna Swaraj' (complete independence) resolution in December 1929?
- A. Calcutta
- B. Karachi
- C. Lahore
- D. Lucknow
Answer: Lahore
The Lahore session, presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru on the banks of the Ravi, declared complete independence as the Congress goal. 26 January 1930 was observed as 'Purna Swaraj Day', which is why the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950.
9. The Quit India Resolution was passed on 8 August 1942 at a Congress meeting held in which city?
- A. Madras
- B. Calcutta
- C. Delhi
- D. Bombay
Answer: Bombay
The resolution was passed at Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay, now called August Kranti Maidan, where Gandhi gave the call 'Do or Die'. Gandhi and other top Congress leaders were arrested early the next morning.
10. Why was the Simon Commission, which arrived in India in 1928, boycotted by most Indian political groups?
- A. It proposed dividing India into two countries
- B. It had no Indian member
- C. It was headed by the Viceroy himself
- D. It recommended banning the Congress
Answer: It had no Indian member
The commission, headed by Sir John Simon, consisted of seven British MPs and no Indians, so it was met with black flags and the slogan 'Simon Go Back'. Lala Lajpat Rai was injured in a police lathi charge during a protest against it in Lahore and died a few weeks later.