Moderates & Extremists (1885-1919) (Set 2)

Dadabhai Naoroji founded the East India Association in London in 1866, bringing together Indians and retired British officials to advocate for Indian interests.

The early nationalists opposed the 1892 Act because it did not give Indians control over public funds – the councils could discuss the budget but could not vote on financial matters. The other options describe the Act’s actual (limited) provisions, not the reason for opposition.

The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885, during the Viceroyalty of Lord Dufferin (1884-1888). Its first session was held in Bombay, with Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee as its first president, and it was created with the help of A.O. Hume.

A.O. Hume was a retired British civil servant who helped found the Indian National Congress in 1885. He believed Indians needed a peaceful outlet for their grievances to avoid violence, so he helped bring Indian leaders together to form the Congress.

The Lucknow Pact came first in 1916, an agreement between the Congress and the Muslim League. The Swaraj Party formed next in 1923, followed by the Communal Award in 1932, and finally the Simla Conference in 1945. This gives the order 3, 1, 2, 4.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak criticised the plague measures in Kesari and Maratha. He did not support the killing of Rand.

He attended the 1905 Congress session at Banaras. There he met Tilak, Gokhale, Lala Lajpat Rai, Surendranath Banerjee and Madan Mohan Malaviya.

After the Tilak sentence of 1908 he thought of armed action. A meeting with Surendranath Banerjee set him on a non-violent path.

Accounts say he refused a land offer and replied that the whole country was his. Sources differ on the size of the land, so treat the figure with care.

Rast Goftar came first, in 1851. The East India Association followed in London in 1866. Naoroji won Central Finsbury in 1892, and his book on the drain came out in 1901. Orders that put the book before the election get the last two years wrong.

Statements 1 and 3 are correct. He won Central Finsbury as a Liberal in July 1892, by five votes, and lost the seat in 1895. Statement 2 is wrong. As a Zoroastrian, he took his oath on the Khordeh Avesta, not the Bible.

Rast Goftar was Naoroji’s Gujarati reform paper of 1851. The East India Association was his London body of 1866. His 1901 book set out the drain theory in full. The Welby Commission was the Royal Commission on Indian Expenditure, which he joined in 1895.

Naoroji was Congress president three times: Calcutta 1886, Lahore 1893 and Calcutta 1906. He did not preside at Surat in 1907. That session broke up in the Moderate-Extremist split.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. He became Elphinstone’s first Indian full professor in 1854. He was also the first Indian member of such a commission when he joined the Welby Commission. Statement 3 is wrong, because the East India Association was founded in London in 1866.

The answer is the Hindu Mahasabha, founded at the 1915 Haridwar Kumbh Mela to represent and consolidate Hindu interests.