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The Extremists, the partition of Bengal and the Swadeshi movement

मराठीत स्पष्टीकरण

The Extremists, Swadeshi and Home Rule · Part 1 / 2 · Fact-checked on 8 November 2026 · how we check

Written with AI from the sources listed at the bottom of this page, then fact-checked by a separate AI.

Why an assertive nationalism grew in the 1890s (disappointment, famine and plague, Tilak's trial, Adowa and Japan), the Extremist leaders and their ideas compared with the Moderates, Curzon's measures, the partition of Bengal (in force 16 October 1905), the boycott resolution of 7 August 1905, the methods of the Swadeshi movement, its spread beyond Bengal, the Benares (1905) and Calcutta (1906) sessions, and the movement's limits and legacy.

Each idea is explained first in Marathi (मराठी), ending with the English and Hindi exam terms, followed by the same point in exam English. UPSC Prelims is in English or Hindi, so understand it in Marathi and revise it in English.

मागच्या प्रकरणाचा शेवट — काँग्रेसचे नेतृत्व मवाळांकडे, आणि तरुण टीकाकार अस्वस्थ. त्या अस्वस्थतेला एक कारण मिळाले तेव्हा काय झाले, ते हे प्रकरण. भाग 1 — 1890 च्या दशकात जहाल का पुढे आले, त्यांचे विचार, आणि 1905 मधील कर्झनच्या बंगालची फाळणीने स्वदेशी चळवळ कशी पेटवली. सुशिक्षित मोजक्यांच्या पलीकडे लोकांपर्यंत पोहोचलेले हे पहिले आंदोलन. वाळलेल्या गवतावर एक ठिणगी पडावी तसे. पद्धती, प्रसार, काँग्रेसमधील वाद इथे; भाग 2 — 1907 च्या सुरत फुटीपासून होमरूल आणि 1917 च्या घोषणेपर्यंत. (→ English: Extremists · Partition of Bengal · Swadeshi · Moderates · हिन्दी: गरमपंथी · बंगाल विभाजन · स्वदेशी · नरमपंथी)

In exam EnglishThe previous chapter ended with the Moderates leading the Congress and younger critics growing restless. This chapter follows what happened when that restlessness found a cause. Part 1 explains why a more assertive group, the Extremists, gained ground in the 1890s, what they believed, and how Lord Curzon's Partition of Bengal in 1905 set off the Swadeshi movement, the first protest of the national movement to reach well beyond the educated few. It looks at the movement's methods, its spread and the Congress debates it provoked. Part 2 takes the story from the Surat split of 1907 to the Home Rule Leagues and the declaration of 1917.

नव्या मनःस्थितीला अनेक कारणे. एक — निराशा: वीस वर्षांच्या अर्जांनी 1892 च्या छोट्या कायद्याखेरीज फारसे मिळाले नव्हते. दोन — देशातले हाल: 1896–97 आणि 1899–1900 चे दुष्काळ; 1896 मध्ये मुंबईत प्लेग. पुण्यात सैनिकांनी घरांची झडती घेतलेल्या प्लेग उपायांवर संताप; जून 1897 मध्ये चापेकर बंधूंनी अधिकारी रँडवर गोळ्या झाडल्या. त्याच वर्षी केसरीतील लेखांबद्दल टिळकांना राजद्रोहासाठी तुरुंगवास. तीन — बाहेरून प्रेरणा: 1896 मध्ये अडोवा येथे इथिओपियाने इटलीला हरवले, 1905 मध्ये जपानने रशियाला. गावच्या कुस्तीत नेहमी जिंकणाऱ्या पैलवानाला कुणी चीत केले की सगळ्यांना धीर येतो — युरोपीयांनाही हरवता येते हे कळले. (→ English: Extremists · plague · हिन्दी: गरमपंथी · प्लेग)

In exam EnglishSeveral strands fed the new mood. The first was disappointment: twenty years of petitions had won little beyond the modest Act of 1892. The second was suffering at home. Famine struck large parts of India in 1896–97 and again in 1899–1900, and bubonic plague reached Bombay in 1896. In Poona the plague measures, with soldiers searching homes, caused deep anger, and in June 1897 the Chapekar brothers shot W. C. Rand, the officer in charge. In the same year Tilak was jailed for sedition for his writings in the Kesari. The third strand came from abroad: Ethiopia's defeat of Italy at Adowa in 1896 and Japan's victory over Russia in 1905 showed that a European power could be beaten.

1899–1905 व्हाइसरॉय लॉर्ड कर्झन टीकाकारांचे लक्ष्य ठरले. कर्तबगार, उत्साही प्रशासक, पण सुशिक्षित भारतीयांबद्दलचे कमी मत त्यांनी लपवले नाही. 1899 च्या कलकत्ता कॉर्पोरेशन ॲक्टने नगरपालिकेतील निवडून आलेले सदस्य कमी केले — अधिकारी आणि युरोपीयांची पकड वाढली. 1902 च्या आयोगानंतर 1904 च्या इंडियन युनिव्हर्सिटीज ॲक्टने विद्यापीठांवरचे सरकारी नियंत्रण वाढवले. गावच्या पंचायतीत बोलायला मिळणाऱ्या चार खुर्च्याही काढून घेतल्या तर 'अर्ज करून उपयोग नाही' असे वाटते — सुशिक्षितांना तेच वाटले. (→ English: Curzon · Indian Universities Act · हिन्दी: कर्ज़न · इंडियन यूनिवर्सिटीज़ एक्ट)

In exam EnglishLord Curzon, Viceroy from 1899 to 1905, gave the critics a target. He was an able and energetic administrator, but he made little secret of his low opinion of educated Indians and their politics. The Calcutta Corporation Act of 1899 cut the number of elected members on the city's municipal body, so that officials and European interests gained control. The Indian Universities Act of 1904, which followed a commission on the universities appointed in 1902, increased official control over the universities and their colleges. Educated Indians read both measures as attacks on the few institutions where they had a voice, and many concluded that the government would not be moved by reasoned petitions.

जहालांचे नेते — महाराष्ट्रात बाळ गंगाधर टिळक, बंगालमध्ये बिपिनचंद्र पाल आणि अरविंद घोष, पंजाबमध्ये लाला लजपतराय; 'लाल-बाल-पाल' म्हणून ओळखले जातात. त्यांचे ध्येय स्वराज्य — मंडळांत आणखी चार जागा नव्हे, तर इंग्रजी नियंत्रणमुक्त स्वशासन. स्वातंत्र्य भेट म्हणून मिळत नाही, आपल्या श्रमाने आणि त्यागाने मिळवावे लागते; फक्त सुशिक्षित नव्हे, सामान्य जनताही यायला हवी. भाड्याच्या घरात आणखी एक खोली मागणे नव्हे, स्वतःचे घर हवे — फरक हाच. टिळकांनी 1893 पासून गणेशोत्सव आणि 1896 पासून शिवजयंती उत्सवातून लोकांना एकत्र आणले; अरविंदांनी निष्क्रिय प्रतिकाराचा कार्यक्रम मांडला. (→ English: Extremists · Swaraj · हिन्दी: गरमपंथी · स्वराज)

In exam EnglishThe Extremists, also called the assertive or militant nationalists, were led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in Maharashtra, Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghose in Bengal and Lala Lajpat Rai in Punjab, a trio often remembered as Lal, Bal and Pal. Their goal was Swaraj, which most of them understood as self-rule free of British control rather than a few more seats in the councils. They believed that freedom had to be won by Indians' own effort and sacrifice, not received as a gift, and that the masses, not only the educated, had to be drawn in. They drew strength from pride in India's past and religion: Tilak used the Ganapati festival from 1893 and the Shivaji festival from 1896 to bring people together, and Aurobindo set out a programme of passive resistance. The table compares the two groups.

Moderates and Extremists compared
Feature	Moderates	Extremists
Dominant phase	1885–1905	From about 1905
Goal	Reforms and gradual self-government within the Empire	Swaraj, self-rule free of British control
Methods	Petitions, speeches, resolutions, lobbying in Britain	Boycott, swadeshi, national education, passive resistance
Social base	Educated urban professionals	Wider: students, the lower middle class, townspeople
View of British rule	Trusted British justice; saw the link as useful	No faith in British goodwill; rule seen as exploitative
Leading figures	Naoroji, Mehta, Banerjea, Gokhale	Tilak, Pal, Lajpat Rai, Aurobindo Ghose

या विचारांना रस्त्यावर आणणारा प्रश्न म्हणजे बंगालची फाळणी. तेव्हा बंगाल — बिहार आणि ओरिसासह प्रचंड इलाखा; राज्य करायला फारच मोठा, असा सरकारचा युक्तिवाद. कर्झनचा निर्णय जुलै 1905 मध्ये जाहीर, 16 ऑक्टोबर 1905 रोजी अंमलात. नवा प्रांत पूर्व बंगाल आणि आसाम, राजधानी ढाका, मुस्लिम बहुमत; पश्चिम बंगाल बिहार-ओरिसासह — हिंदू बहुमत, त्यात बंगाली भाषकच अल्पसंख्य. खरे उद्दिष्ट राजकीय — राष्ट्रवादी राजकारणाचे केंद्र असलेला बंगाल कमकुवत करणे आणि हिंदू-मुसलमानांत फूट पाडणे. एका कुटुंबाच्या घरात भिंत घालून दोन घरे केली की भाऊ एकत्र राहणार नाहीत, असा शेजाऱ्याचा हिशेब — रिझलीने 1904 मध्ये तेच लिहिले. (→ English: Partition of Bengal · हिन्दी: बंगाल विभाजन)

In exam EnglishThe issue that brought these ideas into the streets was the Partition of Bengal. Bengal was then a huge presidency that also took in Bihar and Orissa, and the government argued that it was too large to govern well. Curzon's decision to divide it was announced in July 1905 and took effect on 16 October 1905. A new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam was formed, with its capital at Dacca and a Muslim majority, while western Bengal, joined with Bihar and Orissa, had a Hindu majority in which Bengali speakers became a minority. Indian leaders saw the real aim as political: to weaken Bengal, the centre of nationalist politics, and to divide Hindus from Muslims. Official papers support them; in 1904 the Home Secretary, H. H. Risley, wrote that Bengal united was a power and Bengal divided would pull in several different ways.

निषेधाची सुरुवात मवाळांच्या जुन्या साधनांनी — सभा, अर्ज, वृत्तपत्र मोहिमा; परिणाम शून्य. 7 ऑगस्ट 1905 रोजी कलकत्ता टाउन हॉलमधील मोठ्या सभेने इंग्रजी मालाच्या बहिष्काराचा ठराव केला — स्वदेशी चळवळ औपचारिकपणे सुरू. 16 ऑक्टोबर 1905 ला फाळणी अंमलात आली तो दिवस बंगालसाठी दुखवटा — दुकाने बंद, अनेक घरी चूल पेटली नाही, गंगेत स्नान, गाणी गात मिरवणुका. टागोरांच्या सूचनेवरून लोकांनी एकमेकांना राखी बांधली — भावाबहिणीच्या नात्यासारखे बंगालचे दोन्ही भाग एकच आहेत म्हणून. 'आमार सोनार बांगला' गीत, आणि बंकिमचंद्रांच्या 'आनंदमठ'मधील 'वंदे मातरम्' चळवळीचे गीत झाले. (→ English: boycott · Swadeshi · हिन्दी: बहिष्कार · स्वदेशी)

In exam EnglishProtest began with the familiar Moderate tools, public meetings, petitions and press campaigns led by Surendranath Banerjea and others, but these had no effect. On 7 August 1905 a large meeting at the Calcutta Town Hall passed a resolution to boycott British goods, and the Swadeshi movement was formally launched. When the partition came into force on 16 October 1905, Bengal treated the day as one of mourning: shops closed, many households lit no cooking fires, crowds bathed in the Ganga and walked the streets singing. At Rabindranath Tagore's suggestion people tied rakhis on one another's wrists as a sign that the two halves of Bengal were still one. His song Amar Sonar Bangla was sung at gatherings, and the cry Bande Mataram, from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's novel Anandamath, became the movement's anthem.

चळवळ दोन जोडलेल्या कल्पनांवर चालली. बहिष्कार — इंग्रजी माल, विशेषतः मँचेस्टरचे कापड, मीठ, साखर न घेणे; विदेशी कापडाच्या जाहीर होळ्या, विकणाऱ्या दुकानांसमोर निदर्शने; तरी घेणाऱ्यांना धोबी, पुरोहित, शेजारी सेवा नाकारत. स्वदेशी — 'आपल्या देशाचे' — रचनात्मक बाजू: भारतीय माल घेणे, भारतीय उद्योग उभारणे — गिरण्या, साबण, काडेपेटी कारखाने, बँका, विमा. समजा बारिसालमधल्या एका कुटुंबाने लँकेशायरची धोतरे घेणे बंद केले — गावच्या मागावर धोतर मिळाले तरच बहिष्कार टिकेल. एक दार बंद केले की दुसरे उघडावे लागते. (→ English: boycott · Swadeshi · हिन्दी: बहिष्कार · स्वदेशी)

In exam EnglishThe movement worked through two linked ideas. boycott meant refusing British goods, above all Manchester cloth but also salt and sugar; foreign cloth was burnt in public bonfires, volunteers picketed shops that sold it, and people who kept buying it could find washermen, priests and neighbours refusing to serve them. Swadeshi, meaning 'of one's own country', was the positive side: buying Indian-made goods and building Indian enterprises to supply them. Textile mills, soap and match factories, tanneries, banks and insurance companies were started, many of them small and short-lived. The two worked as a pair. Suppose a family in Barisal stopped buying Lancashire dhotis: the boycott hurt British sales only if a local mill or handloom could offer a dhoti in its place.

स्वावलंबन शाळा आणि खेड्यांपर्यंत पोहोचले. आंदोलनात सामील विद्यार्थ्यांना सरकारी शाळांनी धमकावले तेव्हा राष्ट्रवाद्यांनी राष्ट्रीय शिक्षणाने उत्तर दिले — ऑगस्ट 1906 मध्ये नॅशनल कौन्सिल ऑफ एज्युकेशन; कलकत्त्यात बंगाल नॅशनल कॉलेज, प्राचार्य अरविंद घोष; भारतीय भाषांत शिक्षण, तांत्रिक विषय. जिल्ह्यांत समित्या (स्वयंसेवी संघटना) खेड्यांपर्यंत संदेश नेत; बारिसालची अश्विनीकुमार दत्त यांची 'स्वदेश बांधव समिती' — तंटे मिटवले, बहिष्कार पसरवला. घरचा स्वयंपाक आवडला नाही तर बाहेरचे हॉटेल नव्हे, आपले स्वयंपाकघरच सुधारायचे, तसे. टागोरांची देशभक्तिपर गीते, अवनींद्रनाथ टागोरांचे 'भारतमाता' चित्र. (→ English: national education · Swadeshi · हिन्दी: राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा · स्वदेशी)

In exam EnglishThe same logic of self-help reached schools and villages. When government schools threatened students who joined protests, nationalists answered with national education: the National Council of Education was set up in August 1906, and the Bengal National College opened in Calcutta with Aurobindo Ghose as its principal, teaching in Indian languages alongside technical subjects. In the districts, samitis, or volunteer bodies, carried the message to villages; the Swadesh Bandhab Samiti of Ashwini Kumar Dutt at Barisal was the best known, settling local disputes and spreading the boycott. The movement also stirred culture. Tagore and others wrote patriotic songs, and Abanindranath Tagore painted Bharat Mata, an image of the country as a mother.

फाळणी हे बंगालचे दुःख असले तरी चळवळ लवकरच पसरली. टिळक पुणे-मुंबईत; लाला लजपतराय आणि अजितसिंग पंजाबमध्ये; सय्यद हैदर रझा दिल्लीत. दक्षिणेत व्ही. ओ. चिदंबरम पिल्लई यांनी 1906 मध्ये तुतीकोरीन येथे स्वदेशी स्टीम नेव्हिगेशन कंपनी काढली — इंग्रजी कंपनीशी स्पर्धा करणारी भारतीय जहाजे. शेजारच्या गावात घराला आग लागली की 'उद्या आपलेही असेल' म्हणून सगळे धावतात — ढाका कधी न पाहिलेल्यांनाही वाटले, बंगालचे झाले ते कोणत्याही प्रदेशाचे होऊ शकते. प्रांतिक आंदोलन राष्ट्रीय प्रश्न बनले. (→ English: Swadeshi · हिन्दी: स्वदेशी)

In exam EnglishAlthough the partition was a Bengal grievance, the movement soon spread. Tilak carried the boycott message through Poona and Bombay, Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh led agitation in Punjab, and Syed Haider Raza was active in Delhi. In the south, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai founded the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company at Tuticorin in 1906 to run Indian-owned ships along the coast in competition with a British firm. The spread mattered because it turned a provincial protest into a national question: people who would never see Dacca or Barisal came to feel that what was done to Bengal could be done to any region.

भारतीय राष्ट्रीय काँग्रेसमध्ये दोन गटांचा वाद तीव्र झाला. डिसेंबर 1905 च्या बनारस अधिवेशनाने (अध्यक्ष गोखले) फाळणीचा निषेध केला आणि बंगालमधील स्वदेशी व बहिष्काराला पाठिंबा दिला; पण उरलेल्या देशात बहिष्कार नेण्यास मवाळांनी नकार दिला. जहालांना तो देशभर, सरकारशी सर्वसाधारण असहकारापर्यंत न्यायचा होता. घरात भावांची भांडणे झाली की आजोबांना बोलावून बसवतात — तसे डिसेंबर 1906 च्या कलकत्ता अधिवेशनाला दादाभाई नौरोजींना अध्यक्ष केले. काँग्रेसचे ध्येय स्वराज्य — युनायटेड किंग्डम किंवा वसाहतींसारखे स्वशासन — असे त्यांनी जाहीर केले; स्वदेशी, बहिष्कार, राष्ट्रीय शिक्षण, स्वशासन यांवर ठराव. पण समेट टिकला नाही. (→ English: Swaraj · Swadeshi · boycott · Extremists · Indian National Congress · हिन्दी: स्वराज · स्वदेशी · बहिष्कार · गरमपंथी · भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस)

In exam EnglishInside the Indian National Congress the movement sharpened the quarrel between the two wings. At the Benares session of December 1905, presided over by Gokhale, the Congress condemned the partition and backed the Swadeshi and boycott movement in Bengal, but the Moderates refused to extend the boycott to the rest of India. The Extremists wanted it carried everywhere and widened into a general refusal to cooperate with the government. To keep the two sides together, the Moderates brought Dadabhai Naoroji to preside at Calcutta in December 1906. There Naoroji declared that the goal of the Congress was Swaraj, self-government like that of the United Kingdom or the colonies, and the session passed resolutions on swadeshi, boycott, national education and self-government. The truce did not last.

चळवळीला स्पष्ट मर्यादाही होत्या. पाया — विद्यार्थी, शहरी मध्यमवर्ग, काही जमीनदार, शहरवासी; शेतकऱ्यांपर्यंत ती तुरळकच पोहोचली. पूर्व बंगालमध्ये बहुतेक शेतकरी मुसलमान आणि अनेक जमीनदार हिंदू — मुसलमानांचा पाठिंबा कमी, कधी ती जमीनदारांची चळवळ वाटली. सरकारने ही फूट वाढवली; ढाक्याचे नवाब सलीमुल्ला यांनी फाळणीला पाठिंबा दिला. भारतीय माल महाग, अटका, सभाबंदी, कायमस्वरूपी संघटनेचा अभाव — सुमारे 1908 पर्यंत चळवळ थकली. तरी वारसा मोठा: स्त्रिया, विद्यार्थी, सामान्य लोक राजकारणात; बहिष्कार, स्वदेशी, राष्ट्रीय शिक्षण पुढच्या मोठ्या जनआंदोलनांची हत्यारे बनली. पहिले पीक कमी आले तरी बियाणे जपून ठेवले. (→ English: Swadeshi · boycott · national education · हिन्दी: स्वदेशी · बहिष्कार · राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा)

In exam EnglishThe movement also had clear limits. Its base lay among students, the urban middle class, some zamindars and townspeople; it reached the peasantry only patchily, and in eastern Bengal, where most peasants were Muslim and many landlords Hindu, it drew little support from Muslims and was sometimes seen as a landlords' cause. The government encouraged this division, and Nawab Salimullah of Dacca backed the partition. The boycott was hard to keep up when Indian goods cost more, and arrests, bans on meetings and the lack of a lasting organisation wore the movement down by about 1908. Yet its legacy was large. It drew women, students and ordinary townspeople into politics, and boycott, swadeshi, national education and volunteer bodies became tools that later mass movements used on a far wider scale.

या भागाचे सगळे तुकडे एक साखळी. निराशा, दुष्काळ, प्लेग, कर्झनची धोरणे यांनी मनःस्थिती घडवली; जहालांनी विचार आणि नेते दिले; बंगालची फाळणीने कारण दिले; स्वदेशी चळवळीने सामान्य लोकांना करता येतील अशा पद्धती दिल्या. चूल, लाकडे, विस्तव, स्वयंपाकी — सगळे जुळले तरच स्वयंपाक. 1908 पर्यंत फाळणी रद्द झाली नाही; काँग्रेसच्या दोन गटांतली दरी उघड झाली. भाग 2 — 1907 ची सुरत फूट, 1909 च्या सुधारणा, होमरूलमुळे पुनरुज्जीवन. (→ English: Extremists · Partition of Bengal · Swadeshi · हिन्दी: गरमपंथी · बंगाल विभाजन · स्वदेशी)

In exam EnglishSeen together, the pieces of this part form one chain. Disappointment, famine, plague and Curzon's policies created the mood; the Extremists gave it ideas and leaders; the Partition of Bengal gave it a cause; and the Swadeshi movement gave it methods that ordinary people could practise. The movement did not undo the partition by 1908, and it exposed the gap between the two wings of the Congress. Part 2 follows that gap to the Surat split of 1907, the reforms of 1909 and the revival of the national movement under the Home Rule Leagues.

Exam traps

The boycott resolution was passed at the Calcutta Town Hall on 7 August 1905; the partition itself came into force later, on 16 October 1905.
The partition was announced in July 1905 under Curzon; it was annulled in 1911, not by Curzon.
The new province was Eastern Bengal and Assam, with its capital at Dacca and a Muslim majority.
At Benares (1905) the Congress supported the boycott in Bengal only; the Moderates refused to extend it to all India.
Swaraj was declared the goal of the Congress at Calcutta in 1906 under Dadabhai Naoroji, not under Tilak.
Raksha Bandhan as a symbol of Bengal's unity was Rabindranath Tagore's idea; Bande Mataram comes from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's Anandamath.
The Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company (1906) was founded by V. O. Chidambaram Pillai at Tuticorin, not in Bengal.
W. C. Rand, the plague officer, was shot by the Chapekar brothers in Poona in 1897; Tilak was jailed for sedition the same year.

Recap

Extremism grew from disappointment with petitions, famine and plague in the late 1890s, harsh plague measures, Tilak's imprisonment (1897) and the examples of Adowa (1896) and Japan (1905).
Extremist leaders: Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai and Aurobindo Ghose; their goal was Swaraj, won by self-reliance and mass effort.
Curzon's Calcutta Corporation Act (1899) and Indian Universities Act (1904) angered educated Indians.
The partition of Bengal was announced in July 1905 and came into force on 16 October 1905; Eastern Bengal and Assam had its capital at Dacca.
Its political aim was to weaken nationalist Bengal and divide Hindus and Muslims, as Risley's 1904 note shows.
The boycott resolution of 7 August 1905 at the Calcutta Town Hall launched the Swadeshi movement; 16 October was a day of mourning with Raksha Bandhan.
Methods: boycott and bonfires of foreign cloth, picketing, swadeshi enterprise, national education (1906), samitis and patriotic culture.
The movement spread to Poona, Punjab, Delhi and Madras; Calcutta 1906 under Naoroji declared Swaraj the Congress goal.
Limits: weak reach among peasants and Muslims, decline by 1908; legacy: methods later used by mass movements.

Practice questions

Q1. On which date did the partition of Bengal come into force?

7 August 1905
16 October 1905
30 December 1906
12 December 1911

Show answer

Answer: B. 16 October 1905

(b) is correct: the partition took effect on 16 October 1905, observed in Bengal as a day of mourning. (a) is wrong: 7 August 1905 is the date of the boycott resolution at the Calcutta Town Hall. (c) is wrong: 30 December 1906 is when the All-India Muslim League was founded at Dacca. (d) is wrong: the annulment of the partition was announced at the Delhi Durbar of December 1911.

Q2. Consider the following statements:
1. The resolution to boycott British goods was passed at a meeting in the Calcutta Town Hall in August 1905.
2. At its Benares session of 1905 the Congress called for the boycott to be extended to the whole of India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2

Show answer

Answer: A. 1 only

(a) is correct. Statement 1 is right: the resolution was passed on 7 August 1905. Statement 2 is wrong: at Benares the Congress backed the boycott in Bengal only, and the Moderates refused to extend it. So (b) and (c) are wrong because statement 2 is false, and (d) is wrong because statement 1 is true.

Q3. Match List I (person) with List II (associated with):
List I
A. V. O. Chidambaram Pillai
B. Ashwini Kumar Dutt
C. Aurobindo Ghose
List II
1. Swadesh Bandhab Samiti
2. Bengal National College
3. Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company
Select the correct answer using the code given below:

A-3, B-1, C-2
A-1, B-3, C-2
A-3, B-2, C-1
A-2, B-1, C-3

Show answer

Answer: A. A-3, B-1, C-2

(a) is correct: Chidambaram Pillai founded the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company (1906), Ashwini Kumar Dutt led the Swadesh Bandhab Samiti at Barisal, and Aurobindo Ghose was principal of the Bengal National College. (b) is wrong because it swaps Pillai and Dutt. (c) is wrong because it swaps Dutt and Aurobindo. (d) is wrong because it swaps Pillai and Aurobindo.

Q4. Who presided over the 1906 Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress, at which Swaraj was declared to be the goal of the Congress?

Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Dadabhai Naoroji
Surendranath Banerjea

Show answer

Answer: C. Dadabhai Naoroji

(c) is correct: Dadabhai Naoroji presided at Calcutta in 1906 and declared Swaraj the goal. (a) is wrong: Gokhale presided over the previous session, at Benares in 1905. (b) is wrong: Tilak was a leader of the Extremists but did not preside in 1906; the Moderates chose Naoroji partly to keep the Extremists from capturing the chair. (d) is wrong: Banerjea led the Bengal agitation but was not the 1906 president.

Q5. Consider the following statements about Lord Curzon's measures:
1. The Calcutta Corporation Act of 1899 increased the number of elected members of the Calcutta municipal body.
2. The Indian Universities Act of 1904 increased official control over the universities.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2

Show answer

Answer: B. 2 only

(b) is correct. Statement 1 is wrong: the 1899 Act reduced the number of elected members. Statement 2 is right: the 1904 Act increased official control over the universities. So (a) and (c) are wrong because statement 1 is false, and (d) is wrong because statement 2 is true.

Q6. Consider the following events:
1. Ethiopia's defeat of Italy at Adowa
2. Japan's victory over Russia
Which of the above encouraged the belief among Indian nationalists that a European power could be defeated?

1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2

Show answer

Answer: C. Both 1 and 2

(c) is correct: both Ethiopia's victory at Adowa (1896) and Japan's over Russia (1905) showed that European powers were not invincible. (a) and (b) are wrong because each leaves out one of the two events, and (d) is wrong because both events had this effect.

Q7. Which one of the following was NOT a method of the Swadeshi movement of 1905–1908?

Public burning of foreign cloth
Setting up institutions of national education
Organising volunteer samitis
Demanding separate electorates

Show answer

Answer: D. Demanding separate electorates

(d) is correct: separate electorates were a demand of the Simla deputation of 1906 and were granted in 1909; they were no part of the Swadeshi programme, which aimed at unity. (a), (b) and (c) are wrong answers because bonfires of foreign cloth, national education and samitis were all methods of the movement.

Q8. Consider the following statements about the partition of Bengal (1905):
1. The new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam had its capital at Dacca.
2. In the western province, which included Bihar and Orissa, Bengali speakers became a minority.
3. Nawab Salimullah of Dacca supported the partition.
Which of the statements given above are correct?

1 and 2 only
2 and 3 only
1 and 3 only
1, 2 and 3

Show answer

Answer: D. 1, 2 and 3

(d) is correct: all three statements are right. Dacca was the capital of Eastern Bengal and Assam; Bengali speakers were outnumbered in the western province once Bihar and Orissa were included; and Nawab Salimullah backed the partition. (a), (b) and (c) are wrong because each leaves out a correct statement.

All parts Next: Part 2 →

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Sources

The Calcutta Municipal Act, 1899; the Indian Universities Act, 1904; the Government of India's proclamation and notifications on the partition of Bengal, 1905 — https://www.abhilekh-patal.in
The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. II (The Indian Empire: Historical) and Vol. IV (Administrative), Government of India, 1907–09 — https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/
Records of the Home Department (Public and Political) on the plague measures, the partition of Bengal and the Swadeshi movement, 1897–1908, including H. H. Risley's notes of 1904, and reports of the Congress sessions of 1905 and 1906; National Archives of India, Abhilekh Patal — https://www.abhilekh-patal.in