Unlock Elite Access: Level Up Your Preparation with Exclusive Content

History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

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?

  • UPSC 1987
  • Rise of Gandhi and the Gandhian Era

Gandhi's ascent to undisputed national leadership between 1919 and 1920 has to be read as the convergence of a decayed political vacuum, a mass upheaval he alone knew how to channel, and a calculated alliance with Khilafat sentiment — not simply elite manoeuvre nor simply spontaneous mass adulation.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • The Vacuum Gandhi Stepped Into
  • Building Credibility: Champaran, Kheda, Ahmedabad
  • The Rowlatt Satyagraha and Jallianwala Bagh
  • The Khilafat-Non-Cooperation Fusion, 1920
  • The Special Congress at Calcutta and Nagpur, 1920
  • Was It "Skilful Top-Level Political Game"?
  • …and 1 more sections, with a conclusion

Unlock this answer and 1,350+ more

  • 1,350+ solved UPSC History Optional PYQs from 1985 to 2025, Paper-1 and Paper-2
  • Topic-wise across Ancient, Medieval, Modern, Post-Independence and World History
  • Model answers with a clear structure and historian citations
  • Map section solutions included, at no extra cost
  • Read online on lotusarise.com, plus PDF download

₹1,499₹2,50040% off

Get History Optional PYQ Master Pack @ ₹1,499 →

One-time payment · No subscription · Instant access · UPI, cards, RuPay

See every Rise of Gandhi and the Gandhian Era question (71 solved) →Already enrolled? Log in