Modern History Set 94 | MROY Class

Modern History Set 94 – Questions & Answers

The Anushilan Samiti, one of the foremost revolutionary organizations in Bengal, was founded in Calcutta in 1902 by whom? – Pramathanath Mitra
The revolutionary Bengali weekly Yugantar, which preached armed rebellion, was started in 1906 by Barindra Kumar Ghosh and which other revolutionary? – Bhupendranath Datta
In the famous Alipore Bomb Conspiracy Case (1908), Aurobindo Ghosh was brilliantly defended and acquitted by which prominent lawyer? – Chittaranjan Das (C.R. Das)
The daring assassination attempt on Viceroy Lord Hardinge in Delhi in 1912 (the Delhi Conspiracy Case) was masterminded by whom? – Rash Behari Bose
In 1909, Sir William Hutt Curzon Wyllie was assassinated in London by an Indian revolutionary to avenge British atrocities. Who was the assassin? – Madan Lal Dhingra
Shyamji Krishna Varma established a hub for Indian revolutionaries in London in 1905, offering scholarships to Indian students. What was it called? – India House
The Ghadar Party, formed by Indian expatriates to overthrow British rule, had its headquarters in San Francisco. What was the headquarters named? – Yugantar Ashram
The tragic Komagata Maru incident (1914) involved a Japanese steamship carrying Indian immigrants that was denied entry into which specific port? – Vancouver, Canada
The Kakori Train Robbery (1925) was a major action carried out by the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA). Who among the following was its primary mastermind? – Ramprasad Bismil
In 1928, the Hindustan Republican Association was reorganized into the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) largely under the leadership of Bhagat Singh and whom? – Chandrashekhar Azad
To avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, the HSRA assassinated which British police officer in Lahore in 1928? – John P. Saunders
In 1929, Bhagat Singh and which other revolutionary threw a harmless smoke bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly to protest draconian laws? – Batukeshwar Dutt
The Chittagong Armoury Raid of 1930, one of the most daring revolutionary attacks in Bengal, was led by Surya Sen, who was affectionately known as what? – Masterda
In 1930, three young revolutionaries—Benoy Basu, Badal Gupta, and Dinesh Gupta—launched a daring attack on the Inspector General of Prisons inside which administrative building in Calcutta? – Writers’ Building
To avenge the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which Indian revolutionary assassinated General Michael O’Dwyer in London in 1940? – Udham Singh
The Eka Movement (1921–22) was a major peasant uprising in Awadh demanding the conversion of produce rent into cash rent. Who was its most prominent grassroots leader? – Madari Pasi
The highly successful Bardoli Satyagraha (1928), a no-tax campaign against an arbitrary revenue hike, was led by whom? – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) was established in 1936 to coordinate peasant movements across the country. Who served as its first President? – Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
The militant Tebhaga Movement (1946) in Bengal was an uprising by sharecroppers (bargadars). What was their primary demand? – A two-thirds share of the harvest for themselves
The massive Telangana Peasant Armed Struggle (1946–1951) was directed against the autocratic rule of the Nizam of Hyderabad and which class of oppressive landlords? – Deshmukhs
To provide a national platform for the Indian labor movement, the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was founded in 1920. Who was its first President? – Lala Lajpat Rai
The Trade Disputes Act of 1929 severely restricted the working-class movement by making which of the following illegal? – Sympathetic strikes and strikes meant to coerce the government
Which British Act was the first to establish a Supreme Court at Calcutta to regulate the affairs of the East India Company? – Regulating Act of 1773
Pitt’s India Act of 1784 established a system of double government by creating which new body to guide and control the political affairs of the Company? – Board of Control
Which Charter Act explicitly ended the East India Company’s trade monopoly in India, opening it to all British subjects, except for the trade in tea and trade with China? – Charter Act of 1813
The Charter Act of 1833 was a landmark in administrative centralization. It elevated the Governor-General of Bengal to the Governor-General of India. Who was the first to hold this post? – Lord William Bentinck
Following the Revolt of 1857, the Government of India Act 1858 transferred ruling power to the British Crown and created which new cabinet position in London? – Secretary of State for India
The Indian Councils Act of 1909 is notorious for introducing a controversial electoral mechanism that sowed the seeds of communalism. What was it? – Separate electorates for Muslims
The Government of India Act 1919 (Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms) introduced the system of ‘Dyarchy’ (dual rule). At which level of government was this implemented? – Provincial level
The Government of India Act 1935 proposed sweeping structural changes. It abolished Dyarchy in the provinces and replaced it with what? – Provincial Autonomy

MROY Class

Modern History Set 94

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📌 Modern History • Revolutionary Movements

Q.1) The Anushilan Samiti, one of the foremost revolutionary organizations in Bengal, was founded in Calcutta in 1902 by whom?

Ans > Pramathanath Mitra

Inception and Core Philosophy: The Anushilan Samiti was formally established in Calcutta in 1902 by Pramathanath Mitra, a prominent Bengali barrister. The organization was heavily inspired by the fierce nationalist writings of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, particularly his novel Anandamath, which strongly advocated for a militant approach to securing the motherland’s freedom.
Organizational Structure and Expansion: Initially operating under the guise of local fitness clubs or akhadas, the Samiti secretly provided rigorous physical training, martial arts instruction, and ideological schooling to Bengali youths. It rapidly expanded its highly secretive network across Bengal when nationalist stalwarts like Aurobindo Ghosh and his brother Barindra Kumar Ghosh joined the core leadership.
The Shift to Armed Rebellion: By 1906, an inner, significantly more radical faction of the Samiti broke away to form the Jugantar group. This radical faction actively shifted the organization’s overarching focus from mere physical culture and self-defense to direct armed rebellion, indigenous bomb-making, and the targeted assassination of oppressive British colonial officials to incite a mass nationwide uprising.

📌 Modern History • Revolutionary Press

Q.2) The revolutionary Bengali weekly Yugantar, which preached armed rebellion, was started in 1906 by Barindra Kumar Ghosh and which other revolutionary?

Ans > Bhupendranath Datta

Origins as a Nationalist Mouthpiece: Launched in March 1906, Yugantar (meaning “New Era” or “Transition of an Epoch”) was an aggressively anti-British Bengali weekly newspaper. It was founded by Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Abhinash Bhattacharya, and Bhupendranath Datta, who was notably the younger brother of Swami Vivekananda.
Radical Ideological Stance: The publication emerged as a direct, furious response to Lord Curzon’s highly controversial Partition of Bengal in 1905. It openly rejected the moderate Congress policies of petitions and prayers, instead preaching that true political independence could only be achieved through armed rebellion and absolute self-sacrifice.
Government Crackdown and Prosecution: Due to its immense popularity among the youth and its openly seditious content justifying political violence, the British Indian government swiftly targeted the publication. In 1907, Bhupendranath Datta, serving as the editor, was arrested under sedition charges and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment, eventually leading to the paper’s forced closure under the draconian Newspapers (Incitement to Offences) Act of 1908.

📌 Modern History • Important Trials

Q.3) In the famous Alipore Bomb Conspiracy Case (1908), Aurobindo Ghosh was brilliantly defended and acquitted by which prominent lawyer?

Ans > Chittaranjan Das (C.R. Das)

Context of the Trial: The Alipore Bomb Case (also known as the Manicktolla bomb conspiracy) was initiated following the tragic Muzaffarpur bombing by Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki, who mistakenly killed two British women while attempting to assassinate the oppressive Magistrate Kingsford. Following this, British police raided the Maniktala ashram and arrested Aurobindo Ghosh, Barindra Kumar Ghosh, and over 30 other revolutionaries.
The Brilliance of the Defense: The nationalist leader and exceptionally skilled barrister Chittaranjan Das (later affectionately known as Deshbandhu) took up Aurobindo Ghosh’s legal defense entirely pro bono. Despite suffering from rapidly failing health and immense financial strain, C.R. Das worked relentlessly for over 125 days, systematically dismantling the prosecution’s incredibly weak, circumstantial evidence.
Acquittal and Spiritual Transformation: C.R. Das’s highly impassioned and logically flawless closing arguments resulted in Aurobindo’s complete acquittal in May 1909. Profoundly affected by his solitary confinement in Alipore jail, Aurobindo experienced a massive spiritual awakening. Shortly after his release, he completely abandoned active revolutionary politics and relocated to the French territory of Pondicherry to pursue spiritual philosophy.

📌 Modern History • Conspiracies

Q.4) The daring assassination attempt on Viceroy Lord Hardinge in Delhi in 1912 (the Delhi Conspiracy Case) was masterminded by whom?

Ans > Rash Behari Bose

The Ceremonial Target: The assassination attempt occurred on December 23, 1912, marking the highly publicized, ceremonial transfer of the capital of British India from Calcutta to New Delhi. Viceroy Lord Hardinge was riding in state on an elephant through the crowded streets of Chandni Chowk when a homemade bomb was hurled directly into his howdah.
Execution and Mastermind: The complex conspiracy was entirely masterminded by the veteran revolutionary leader Rash Behari Bose, working in close coordination with Sachindra Nath Sanyal. The actual explosive device was thrown by a young revolutionary named Basanta Kumar Biswas, who was disguised in female attire to evade tight police cordons.
The Aftermath and Escape: Although the Viceroy survived the blast with severe flesh wounds, his Indian attendant was killed instantly. The subsequent British investigation, known as the Delhi Conspiracy Trial, led to the execution of revolutionaries like Amir Chand and Awadh Behari. However, Rash Behari Bose brilliantly managed to evade a massive nationwide manhunt and eventually escaped to Japan, where he later played a foundational role in forming the Indian National Army (INA).

📌 Modern History • Revolutionaries Abroad

Q.5) In 1909, Sir William Hutt Curzon Wyllie was assassinated in London by an Indian revolutionary to avenge British atrocities. Who was the assassin?

Ans > Madan Lal Dhingra

Radicalization in London: Madan Lal Dhingra was an affluent Indian student studying mechanical engineering in England. He became deeply radicalized after coming into contact with Shyamji Krishna Varma and V.D. Savarkar at the famous India House in London, transitioning into a fierce advocate for armed, anti-colonial resistance.
The Assassination of Curzon Wyllie: Sir Curzon Wyllie, a high-ranking political aide-de-camp to the Secretary of State for India, was heavily despised by revolutionaries for running an extensive spy network monitoring Indian students in Britain. On July 1, 1909, during a public gathering at the Imperial Institute in London, Dhingra walked up to Wyllie and fired five shots point-blank, killing him instantly.
Trial and Martyrdom: Dhingra made absolutely no attempt to escape and was immediately arrested. During his highly publicized trial, he defiantly stated that his actions were a justified, patriotic response to the inhumane executions of Indian youths by the British colonial government. He was sentenced to death and hanged at Pentonville Prison on August 17, 1909, becoming one of the earliest revolutionary martyrs on foreign soil.

📌 Modern History • Revolutionaries Abroad

Q.6) Shyamji Krishna Varma established a hub for Indian revolutionaries in London in 1905, offering scholarships to Indian students. What was it called?

Ans > India House

Foundation and Purpose: Established in 1905 by the visionary nationalist Shyamji Krishna Varma, India House was a large student hostel located in Highgate, London. Its primary purpose was to provide highly subsidized accommodation to Indian expatriates, explicitly fostering a sense of militant nationalism away from the watchful eyes of the colonial police in India.
Scholarships and Propaganda: Krishna Varma aggressively promoted the nationalist cause by offering prestigious endowments, most notably the Herbert Spencer Indian Fellowships, to brilliant Indian students. India House also served as the central publishing headquarters for The Indian Sociologist, a fiercely anti-imperialist journal that heavily criticized British policies and advocated for complete self-rule (Swaraj).
A Crucible for Revolutionaries: Under the later, highly influential leadership of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, India House transformed from a mere ideological debating club into a highly organized hub for revolutionary activities. It nurtured legendary freedom fighters, including Madam Bhikaji Cama, Lala Har Dayal, and Madan Lal Dhingra, before relentless British intelligence crackdowns eventually forced its closure in 1910.

📌 Modern History • Ghadar Movement

Q.7) The Ghadar Party, formed by Indian expatriates to overthrow British rule, had its headquarters in San Francisco. What was the headquarters named?

Ans > Yugantar Ashram

Origins in North America: Originally established in 1913 as the Pacific Coast Hindustan Association by visionary leaders like Lala Har Dayal and Sohan Singh Bhakna, the organization quickly became known as the Ghadar Party. It was primarily composed of Punjabi Sikh immigrants who had faced severe racial discrimination while working as laborers in the United States and Canada.
The Significance of Yugantar Ashram: The party established its primary headquarters in San Francisco, California. They explicitly named the facility ‘Yugantar Ashram’ as a direct, deeply symbolic tribute to the revolutionary Yugantar group of Bengal, signifying a unified, pan-Indian armed struggle against British imperialism regardless of regional origins.
The Ghadar Publication and Mutiny Plans: The ashram served as the central nerve center for publishing the weekly Ghadar newspaper (meaning ‘Rebellion’ or ‘Mutiny’). Printed aggressively in Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindi, the literature was heavily smuggled into India to incite a massive, coordinated uprising among Indian soldiers serving in the British Indian Army, which tragically failed during the planned 1915 mutiny.

📌 Modern History • Komagata Maru

Q.8) The tragic Komagata Maru incident (1914) involved a Japanese steamship carrying Indian immigrants that was denied entry into which specific port?

Ans > Vancouver, Canada

The Journey to Canada: In April 1914, Gurdit Singh, an affluent Indian contractor based in Singapore, specifically chartered the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru. The vessel carried 376 Indian passengers, overwhelmingly Punjabi Sikhs, intending to challenge the deeply racist immigration policies of Canada and secure better economic opportunities for his countrymen.
The Racist Exclusion Laws: Upon arriving at the port of Vancouver in May 1914, the ship was entirely denied permission to dock. The Canadian government invoked the discriminatory “Continuous Journey Regulation,” which practically barred Indian immigration by requiring ships to travel continuously from India to Canada without stopping—a logistical impossibility for steamships of that era. After a tense two-month standoff in the harbor, a Canadian naval cruiser forced the ship to depart.
The Budge Budge Massacre: Forced to return to British India, the ship docked at Budge Budge near Calcutta in September 1914. British authorities, deeply paranoid that the embittered passengers were radical Ghadar revolutionaries, ordered them onto special trains heading to Punjab. When the passengers resisted, British police opened fire, resulting in a brutal massacre where 20 innocent Indians were killed, massively fueling the Ghadar movement’s anti-colonial fury.

📌 Modern History • HSRA Actions

Q.9) The Kakori Train Robbery (1925) was a major action carried out by the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA). Who among the following was its primary mastermind?

Ans > Ramprasad Bismil

Funding the Armed Struggle: The Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), operating primarily in the United Provinces, was desperately short on funds required to purchase sophisticated firearms and publish revolutionary literature. To overcome this, the leadership, primarily Ramprasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan, formulated a daring plan to loot official British government treasury funds in transit.
Execution of the Robbery: On August 9, 1925, a heavily armed group of ten revolutionaries forcibly stopped the 8-Down passenger train traveling from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow near the small town of Kakori. They successfully overpowered the guards and looted the iron safe containing colonial tax collections, strictly avoiding harm to ordinary Indian passengers during the entire operation.
The Crackdown and Hangings: The British colonial government responded with an absolutely massive manhunt, successfully arresting over 40 revolutionaries associated with the HRA. Following a highly publicized, lengthy trial known as the Kakori Conspiracy Case, the British dealt a crushing blow to the organization by sentencing its top tier—Ramprasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Roshan Singh, and Rajendra Lahiri—to death by hanging in 1927.

📌 Modern History • HSRA Leaders

Q.10) In 1928, the Hindustan Republican Association was reorganized into the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) largely under the leadership of Bhagat Singh and whom?

Ans > Chandrashekhar Azad

The Ideological Evolution: Following the devastating executions after the Kakori trial, the shattered remnants of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) required total restructuring. At a highly secretive meeting held at the Ferozeshah Kotla grounds in Delhi in September 1928, young leaders, heavily influenced by Marxist literature and the Russian Revolution, rebranded the organization as the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).
Bhagat Singh’s Vision: Bhagat Singh was absolutely instrumental in this ideological pivot. He forcefully argued that mere political independence from the British was insufficient; the ultimate goal must be the complete abolition of the exploitative capitalist system and the establishment of a socialist republic governed by the working class and peasantry.
Azad’s Military Command: While Bhagat Singh provided the intense ideological framework, the legendary Chandrashekhar Azad served as the absolute military commander-in-chief of the HSRA. Azad’s brilliant logistical planning, strict internal discipline, and unparalleled ability to continuously evade the vast British intelligence dragnet kept the highly formidable revolutionary network functioning effectively for several critical years.

📌 Modern History • HSRA Actions

Q.11) To avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, the HSRA assassinated which British police officer in Lahore in 1928?

Ans > John P. Saunders

The Catalyst for Revenge: During massive, peaceful protests against the all-white Simon Commission in Lahore in October 1928, the British Superintendent of Police, James A. Scott, ordered a brutally violent lathi charge. The revered veteran nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai was severely beaten by the police and tragically succumbed to his massive internal injuries a few weeks later.
A Case of Mistaken Identity: The HSRA leadership, viewing Lajpat Rai’s murder as a direct insult to the entire nation, vowed immediate and severe revenge. Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, and Sukhdev methodically planned to assassinate James A. Scott. However, on December 17, 1928, due to a highly critical misidentification, they ended up shooting and killing John P. Saunders, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, outside the district police headquarters in Lahore.
The Daring Escape: The assassination triggered an unprecedented police lockdown across Lahore. Despite the massive manhunt, Bhagat Singh brilliantly disguised himself as an Anglo-Indian ‘sahib’ in a Western suit and fedora hat, while revolutionary Durgawati Devi (Durga Bhabhi) posed as his affluent wife. This highly elaborate ruse allowed the core HSRA leadership to successfully escape the heavily guarded city by train.

📌 Modern History • HSRA Actions

Q.12) In 1929, Bhagat Singh and which other revolutionary threw a harmless smoke bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly to protest draconian laws?

Ans > Batukeshwar Dutt

The Target of Protest: On April 8, 1929, the British colonial government was heavily pushing to pass two highly draconian pieces of legislation in the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi: The Public Safety Bill (aimed at arbitrarily detaining suspected communists without trial) and the Trade Dispute Act (designed to crush legitimate labor union strikes).
“To Make the Deaf Hear”: Acting strictly under the explicit orders of the HSRA, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt dropped two carefully constructed, low-intensity smoke bombs onto the empty spaces of the assembly floor. The devices were deliberately engineered to create massive noise and smoke without causing any lethal harm, adhering to their famous leaflet’s opening line: “It takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear.”
Surrender and The Propaganda Trial: In a highly strategic move, neither Singh nor Dutt made any attempt to escape the chaotic assembly hall. Instead, they stood firm in the gallery, continuously chanting the immortal slogan “Inquilab Zindabad” (Long Live the Revolution) while showering the floor with HSRA pamphlets. They voluntarily courted arrest specifically to utilize their highly publicized, open court trial as a massive national platform to broadcast their anti-imperialist, socialist ideology to the Indian masses.

📌 Modern History • Bengal Revolutionaries

Q.13) The Chittagong Armoury Raid of 1930, one of the most daring revolutionary attacks in Bengal, was led by Surya Sen, who was affectionately known as what?

Ans > Masterda

The Vision of Masterda: Surya Sen was a highly respected, mild-mannered mathematics school teacher in Chittagong, which earned him the affectionate title “Masterda” (Teacher Brother). Beneath this quiet exterior, he was a brilliant revolutionary tactician who formed the Indian Republican Army (Chittagong Branch), heavily inspiring local youths to wage a disciplined, militaristic war against the British Empire.
The Coordinated Strike: On the night of April 18, 1930, Masterda executed a highly sophisticated, simultaneous attack. His tightly organized groups flawlessly raided the police armoury and the heavily guarded Auxiliary Forces armoury in Chittagong. Concurrently, they successfully severed all telegraph and telephone lines and disrupted railway tracks, completely isolating the port city from the rest of British India for several days.
The Jalalabad Battle and Martyrdom: Following the incredibly successful raid, the revolutionaries hoisted the Indian national flag and declared a provisional independent government. However, days later, British reinforcement troops engaged them in a massive, bloody gunfight on the Jalalabad Hills, where over a dozen teenagers were martyred. Surya Sen successfully conducted guerrilla warfare for three more years before being betrayed, captured, brutally tortured, and hanged in January 1934.

📌 Modern History • Bengal Revolutionaries

Q.14) In 1930, three young revolutionaries—Benoy Basu, Badal Gupta, and Dinesh Gupta—launched a daring attack on the Inspector General of Prisons inside which administrative building in Calcutta?

Ans > Writers’ Building

The Symbol of Colonial Power: The Writers’ Building, located prominently in Dalhousie Square, Calcutta, served as the heavily fortified central secretariat and the absolute nerve center of the British provincial government in Bengal. It was considered virtually impenetrable by revolutionary forces.
The Target and the Shootout: On December 8, 1930, Benoy Basu, Badal Gupta, and Dinesh Gupta—members of the secretive Bengal Volunteers—dressed sharply in European attire to bypass intense security cordons. Their specific target was Col. N.S. Simpson, the notoriously brutal Inspector General of Prisons, deeply hated for his horrific physical torture of political prisoners. The trio successfully breached his office and shot him dead, triggering a massive, chaotic gunfight in the corridors with heavily armed British police.
The Ultimate Sacrifice: Determined never to surrender to the British authorities and face a show trial, the three youths chose immediate martyrdom as their ammunition ran low. Badal Gupta swallowed a lethal dose of potassium cyanide and died instantly. Benoy and Dinesh turned their revolvers on themselves. Benoy succumbed to his massive injuries days later in the hospital, while Dinesh survived, only to be tried and hanged in 1931. The central square was later respectfully renamed B.B.D. Bagh in their eternal honor.

📌 Modern History • Revolutionaries Abroad

Q.15) To avenge the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which Indian revolutionary assassinated General Michael O’Dwyer in London in 1940?

Ans > Udham Singh

A Vow Born in Blood: Udham Singh was a young orphan who personally witnessed the horrific bloodshed during the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar on April 13, 1919. The sheer brutality of the event, where hundreds of unarmed Indian men, women, and children were slaughtered, deeply scarred him, leading him to take a solemn vow to exact vengeance on the architects of the massacre.
The Target: Michael O’Dwyer: While Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer commanded the troops that fired the shots, it was Sir Michael O’Dwyer, the then Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, who had officially endorsed the barbaric action and declared martial law across the province. Udham Singh spent over two decades traveling across continents, associating with the Ghadar party, and eventually reaching London to track O’Dwyer down.
The Assassination at Caxton Hall: On March 13, 1940, Udham Singh successfully infiltrated a joint meeting of the East India Association at Caxton Hall in London. He drew a concealed revolver from a hollowed-out book and shot O’Dwyer dead. During his trial, he defiantly used the secular alias ‘Ram Mohammad Singh Azad’ to symbolize total Indian unity against imperialism. He was convicted and subsequently hanged at Pentonville Prison on July 31, 1940.

📌 Modern History • Peasant Movements

Q.16) The Eka Movement (1921–22) was a major peasant uprising in Awadh demanding the conversion of produce rent into cash rent. Who was its most prominent grassroots leader?

Ans > Madari Pasi

Origins of Agrarian Distress: The Eka (Unity) Movement rapidly gained extreme momentum in late 1921 across several northern districts of Awadh, including Hardoi, Bahraich, and Sitapur. The primarily lower-caste peasantry was pushed to the absolute brink of starvation due to the extraction of exorbitant land rents—often 50% higher than the officially recorded rates—and the deeply corrupt, oppressive practices of local thekadars (revenue contractors).
The Rise of Madari Pasi: While initially supported by the urban-led Non-Cooperation Movement, the Eka movement’s character drastically changed when Madari Pasi, a leader belonging to a highly marginalized, lower-caste community, took charge. Under his formidable grassroots leadership, the movement completely broke away from the strict, non-violent dictates of the mainstream Indian National Congress and adopted far more radical, militant methods of resistance against the Zamindars.
Rituals of Resistance and Suppression: Madari Pasi brilliantly utilized religious and cultural symbols to forge unbreakable solidarity. Eka meetings involved taking solemn oaths, often while holding water from the holy Ganges, swearing to pay only the recorded rent and physically resist violent eviction attempts. By early 1922, the British authorities deployed massive, heavily armed police columns to ruthlessly crush the movement and arrest its core leadership, forcing the Eka resistance entirely underground.

📌 Modern History • Peasant Movements

Q.17) The highly successful Bardoli Satyagraha (1928), a no-tax campaign against an arbitrary revenue hike, was led by whom?

Ans > Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

The Spark of the Conflict: In 1925, the Bardoli taluka in the Bombay Presidency suffered a massive economic crisis due to devastating floods and subsequent severe crop failures. Despite this agrarian ruin, the insensitive British provincial government arbitrarily announced a massive 22% increase in land revenue taxes in 1927, outright ignoring desperate petitions from the impoverished local farmers.
Meticulous Organization and Resistance: Vallabhbhai Patel took complete charge of the peasant agitation in 1928, demanding a total rollback of the hike. He exhibited absolute organizational genius by dividing the taluka into heavily coordinated camps (chhavanis), organizing thousands of disciplined volunteers, and implementing a strict, crippling social boycott against any government loyalist or official attempting to auction off confiscated peasant properties.
Victory and the Birth of a ‘Sardar’: Despite the government brutally seizing prized cattle, dismantling homes, and arresting hundreds, the peasant solidarity remained completely unbroken under Patel’s iron-willed leadership. The immense success of this entirely non-violent satyagraha forced the British to appoint the Maxwell-Broomfield commission, which found the massive tax hike unjustified and drastically reduced it to a mere 6.03%. In immense gratitude, the women of Bardoli affectionately bestowed the enduring title “Sardar” (Chief or Leader) upon Vallabhbhai Patel.

📌 Modern History • Peasant Movements

Q.18) The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) was established in 1936 to coordinate peasant movements across the country. Who served as its first President?

Ans > Swami Sahajanand Saraswati

Consolidating Regional Power: Prior to the 1930s, peasant movements in India were highly localized and heavily fragmented. The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) was officially formed in April 1936 during the historic Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress. This massive development successfully brought together numerous disparate provincial farmer organizations under a single, highly powerful, national umbrella organization.
Visionary Leadership: Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, an immensely fiery and highly influential peasant leader who had previously organized the powerful Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha, was unanimously elected as the very first President of the AIKS. He was ably supported by the prominent South Indian agrarian leader N.G. Ranga, who functioned as the organization’s first General Secretary, effectively bridging the north-south divide in the peasant movement.
A Radical Agrarian Manifesto: The AIKS quickly released a highly radical ‘Kisan Manifesto’, heavily influenced by the growing socialist bloc within the nationalist movement. The organization explicitly demanded the complete, immediate abolition of the exploitative Zamindari system, a massive reduction in overarching land revenue taxes, the institutionalization of incredibly cheap rural credit, and the total cancellation of crushing, intergenerational debts owed to rural moneylenders.

📌 Modern History • Peasant Movements

Q.19) The militant Tebhaga Movement (1946) in Bengal was an uprising by sharecroppers (bargadars). What was their primary demand?

Ans > A two-thirds share of the harvest for themselves

The Economics of Sharecropping: In colonial Bengal, a deeply exploitative agrarian system was dominated by the wealthy Jotedars (landlords). The actual physical labor of cultivation was done by desperately poor Bargadars (sharecroppers), who were forced to surrender exactly half (or sometimes more) of their harvested crops to the landlords as rent, pushing them into a perpetual cycle of grinding poverty and massive debt.
The “Tebhaga” Demand: Initiated directly by the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha in late 1946, the movement’s core demand was encapsulated in the term “Tebhaga,” which literally translates to “three shares.” The massively mobilized sharecroppers fiercely demanded that they retain a full two-thirds share of the agricultural produce, leaving only a meager one-third for the non-cultivating landlords. This radical demand was technically backed by the previous findings of the British-appointed Floud Commission.
Militant Resistance and Unity: The movement rapidly became highly militant. Sharecroppers fiercely chanted slogans like “Nij Khamare Dhan Tolo” (stack paddy in your own threshing floor instead of the landlord’s). Despite the horrific, highly divisive Hindu-Muslim communal riots raging in Calcutta during the partition era, the Tebhaga movement remarkably maintained absolute communal harmony, with Hindu, Muslim, and tribal peasants fiercely fighting together against immense, brutal police repression.

📌 Modern History • Peasant Movements

Q.20) The massive Telangana Peasant Armed Struggle (1946–1951) was directed against the autocratic rule of the Nizam of Hyderabad and which class of oppressive landlords?

Ans > Deshmukhs

The Depths of Feudal Oppression: The princely state of Hyderabad, ruled autocratically by the incredibly wealthy Nizam, was a massive stronghold of deeply entrenched feudalism. The agrarian population suffered horrific exploitation under the Jagirdari system, where incredibly powerful, corrupt regional landlords known as “Deshmukhs” possessed tens of thousands of acres. They ruthlessly enforced Vetti (forced, unpaid labor) and extracted exorbitant, illegal taxes from the deeply impoverished peasantry.
The Communist-Led Rebellion: Beginning in 1946, the deep-seated anger erupted into a massive, organized armed rebellion directly led by the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Andhra Mahasabha. Moving far beyond peaceful protests, the desperately oppressed peasants formed highly trained, armed guerrilla squads called Dalams to violently resist the landlords’ private armies and the Nizam’s brutal paramilitary forces, the Razakars.
Massive Agrarian Success and Conclusion: The struggle was historically unprecedented in its massive scale and immense success. The armed peasantry successfully liberated over 3,000 highly oppressed villages, physically drove out the Deshmukhs, abolished forced labor entirely, and radically redistributed an estimated one million acres of prime agricultural land to landless laborers. The intense armed struggle only officially ceased in 1951, years after the Indian Army executed “Operation Polo” to forcibly integrate the Hyderabad state into the Indian Union.

📌 Modern History • Trade Unions

Q.21) To provide a national platform for the Indian labor movement, the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was founded in 1920. Who was its first President?

Ans > Lala Lajpat Rai

The Catalyst for Centralization: Following the massive economic disruptions of World War I, India witnessed a massive, unprecedented surge in urban industrial strikes. However, these labor actions were deeply localized and highly fragmented. The immediate necessity to form a unified, national labor federation was triggered by the creation of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1919, requiring a central body to formally nominate Indian working-class representatives.
Foundation and Inaugural Leadership: The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was formally established in Bombay on October 31, 1920. The legendary nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai, recognizing the immense political power of the urban proletariat, presided over the highly significant inaugural session as its very first President, alongside Diwan Chaman Lall, who served as the first General Secretary.
Aligning Labor with the Freedom Struggle: In his historic presidential address, Lala Lajpat Rai forcefully argued that the Indian labor movement could not remain isolated. He strongly emphasized the absolute, urgent necessity of directly linking the economic struggles of the exploited working class with the broader, massive national political movement against British imperialist capitalism, laying the foundational ideology for organized trade unionism in colonial India.

📌 Modern History • Labor Laws