Nationalism under Gandhi’s leadership: History Optional PYQs

Rise of Gandhi; Character of Gandhian nationalism; Gandhi’s popular appeal; Rowlatt Satyagraha; the Khilafat Movement; the Non-cooperation Movement; National politics from the end of the Non-cooperation movement to the beginning of the Civil Disobedience movement; the two phases of the Civil Disobedience Movement; Simon Commission; The Nehru Report; the Round Table Conferences; Nationalism and the Peasant Movements; Nationalism and Working class movements; Women and Indian youth and students in Indian politics (1885-1947); the election of 1937 and the formation of ministries; Cripps Mission; the Quit India Movement; the Wavell Plan; The Cabinet Mission.

PYQs: Nationalism under Gandhi’s leadership [1985-2026]

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1. Identify the main strands in the Civil Disobedience Movement with particular reference to the changing role of ‘business pressures’ in the country. (1985)
2. How would you explain Gandhiji’s ‘rise to power’ or ‘capture’ of national leadership in the course of 1919-20? Was it a very skillful top-level political game? (1987)
3. “The Simla Conference (1945) afforded the last opportunity of the forces of nationalism to fight a reargued action to preserve the integrity of the country and when the battle was lost, the waves of communalism quickly engulfed it.” Comment in about 200 words. (1988)
4. At different periods and at various levels, the National Movement assumed social, cultural and economic dimensions. Amplify. (1988)
5. What led to the Caste Movements in Western and Southern India? How did they affect the local socio-political life? (1989)
6. Analyse the main contours of Non-Brahmin Movements in Western and South India in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries. (1991)
7. Show how the Civil Disobedience was marked by much scattered potentially radical manifestations. Was the Karachi Congress an indication of certain basic weakness of the entire movement? (1992)
8. ‘The nationalist political movements for liberation such as the non – cooperation and civil disobedience movements and their leadership depended heavily on the peasantry.’ Comment. (1993)
9. Gandhi restrained mass – movements yet he retained his popularity among the masses. How do you explain this paradox? (1994)
10. Trace the course and comment on the character of caste movements in south India in the 20th century. How far were their object achieved? (1995)
11. Trace the course of the people’s movement in Indian States after 1937. How did the Congress leadership react to it? (1996)
12. “Gandhi’s mystique consisted of a union of original ideas with a remarkable flair for tactics and an uncanny insight in the mass mind.” Elucidate. (1999)
13. ‘The Quit India Movement was a spontaneous revolt of the people against British rule.’ Comment. (2001)
14. “Gandhi restrained mass movements, yet he retained his popularity among the masses.” Comment. (2002)
15. ‘In the summer of 1942, Gandhi was in a strange and uniquely militant mood.’ Comment. (2003)
16. Trace the factors which led to a split in the INC in 1907. What was its impact on the course of the nationalist movement? (2003)
17. Analyse the factors responsiblefor the Civil Disobedience movement (1930-31). How far were its aims realised in the Government of India Act of 1935? (2005)
18. “At Karachi in 1931, the Congress defined what Swaraj would mean for the masses.” Comment. (2007)
19. Explain the circumstances leading to the alliance between the Khilafat and NonCooperation Movements. Was it a politically wise step on the part of the Congress? (2007)
20. “Is moral law,the law of conscience, higher than the law of the state, which is oppressive?” (Gandhi, 1922). Comment. (2008)
21. Do you think that the Quit India movement was a Spontaneous Revolution? (2009)
22. Critically evaluate: “The active participation of Aruna Asaf Ali in 1942 movement symbolized the role of women in India’s freedom sttuggle.’ (2010)
23. “Many of us who worked for the Congress programme lived in a kind of intoxication during the year 1921. We were full of excitement and optimisim… We had a sense of freedom and a pride in that freedom.” Critically examine in 150 words. (2013)
24. “Gandhi’s body is in jail but his soulis with you, India’s prestige is in your hands, you must not use any violence under any circumstances. You will be beaten but you must not resist; you must not raise a hand to ward off blows.” Critically examine in 150 words. (2013)
25. “M.K Gandhi made a gross mistake in cham-pioning the Khilafat cause, an extraterritorial issue which cut at the very roots of Indian nationality.” Critically examine in 150 words. (2014)
26. “… instead of rejecting the plan (Cabinet Mission Plan), they (the Congress Leadership) resorted to a half-baked legalistic stratagem to reserve their position on its long-term arrangements and accepted its short-term provisions.” Critically examine (2014)
27. To what extent did the Freedom Movement in India influence the Liberation Movement in Africa? (2014)
28. Critically examine: “This retention of Rowlatt legislation in the teeth of universal opposition is an affront to the nation. Its repeal is necessary to appease national honour.” (2015)
29. The Royal Indian Navy Revolt was seen as an event which marked the end of the British rule almost as finally as Independence Day.” Explain. (2015)
30. “To characterize the Quit India Movement as ‘Spontaneous Revolution’ would be partial interpretation, so also would be to look up at it as the culmination of Gandhian Satyagraha movements.” Elucidate. (2015)
31. What significant role did women play in the Indian National Movement? (2016)
32. How did Dr. B. R. Ambedkar try to seek a political solution to the problem of caste in India? (2016)
33. Explain why the efforts at finding solution to India’s constitutional impasse failed during 1942-1946. (2017)
34. Discuss how the Satyagrahas of Gandhi removed the spell of fear among Indians and thus knocked off an important pillar of imperialism. (2017)
35. Critically comment in 150 words: “Sri Narayana Guru’s was a major intervention in the social reform movement from a subaltern perspective.” (2017)
36. Do you consider the suspension of Non-Cooperation Movement a “national calamity”? (2018)
37. Critically examine: “The Cripps Mission was plagued throughout and ultimately torpedoed.” (2019)
38. Why is the Quit India Movement characterised as a ‘Spontaneous Revolution’? Did it accelerate the process of Indian independence? (2019)
39. Critically examine the following statement in about 150 words: “In the early twentieth century, there came into existence a number of women’s organisations, which operated more actively in the public arena and focused more directly on women’s political and legal rights.” (2020)
40. Do you agree with the fact that the virtual failure of the Non-Cooperation Movement and the gloom that descended on the nationalist scene, created conditions for revolutionary activities? Discuss. (2020)
41. “In the divided and contestable space of Indian politics, Gandhiji could claim for himself a centrist position because he alienated neither and tactically combined the goal of the moderates with the means of the extremists.” Discuss. (2020)
42. The same Gandhiji who withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement on the issue of violence at Chauri-Chaura, refused to condemn people’s violence during the Quit India Movement. Do you think that he was losing faith in the efficacy of non-violence and was willing to deviate from this path? Elucidate. (2021)
43. Do you think that the Indian National Movement was a ‘multi class movement’ which represented the anti-imperialist interests of all classes and strata ? Give reasons in support of your answer. (2022)
44. “Awakened political consciousness of Indian masses, bound with dishonourable and cowardly insults of the British led to the movement of Non-Cooperation.” Critically examine. (2023)
45. When Gandhiji launched the Civil Disobedience Movement he was “desperately in search of an effective formula.” Critically examine. (2023)
46. Political extremism in colonial India often converged with cultural nationalism but not always. – Comment. (2024)
47. The trade union movement joined forces with the mainstream of nationalist politics to strengthen each other in their struggle against colonial rule. – Comment. (2024)
48. “The emergence of Gandhi signified the Indianization of the national movement.” Analyze with reference to his early movements between 1917-1922. (2025)
49. “The Quit India Movement of 1942 was a decisive phase in India’s struggle for independence, rooted in the circumstances of the second world war, colonial policies and the growing strength of Indian Nationalism.” Analyse. (2026)