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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

“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.

  • UPSC 2020
  • Rise of Gandhi and the Gandhian Era

Indian nationalist politics before 1919 was fractured between the Moderates, wedded to constitutional petitioning within the empire, and the Extremists, committed to confrontational mass action for Swaraj. Gandhiji's genius lay in occupying the contested middle ground between them.

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 Moderate Legacy Gandhi Retained
  • The Extremist Method Gandhi Adopted
  • How the Synthesis Avoided Alienating Either Camp
  • Limits of the "Centrist" Reading

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