Gandhian Mass Movements MCQ Quiz - Objective Question with Answer for Gandhian Mass Movements - Download Free PDF

The correct answer is 1946.

Key Points

• In 1946, Mahatma Gandhi visited Noakhali and other riot-torn areas to stop communal violence.
• The riots in Noakhali took place in the backdrop of unrest due to the demand for partition by the Muslim league.
• This happened in Noakhali, a place in then Bengal(now in Bangladesh) in the year 1946.
• Gandhiji visited the place to advocate his message of non-violence.
• A large scale of atrocities was committed against the members of the Hindu community.

Additional Information

• Important movements by Gandhi Ji:
  • ​1915 - Mahatma Gandhi returns from South Africa.
  • 1917 - Champaran movement.
  • 1918 - Peasant movements in Kheda (Gujarat), and workers’ movement in Ahmadabad
  • 1919 - Rowlatt Satyagraha (March-April).
  • 1919 - Jallianwala Bagh massacre (April).
  • 1921 - Non-cooperation and Khilafat Movements.
  • 1928 - Peasant movement in Bardoli.
  • 1929 - Purna Swaraj accepted as Congress's goal at the Lahore Congress (December).
  • 1930 - Civil Disobedience Movement begins; Dandi March (March-April).
  • 1931 - Gandhi-Irwin Pact (March); Second Round Table Conference (December).
  • 1935 - The Government of India Act promises some form of representative government.
  • 1939 - Congress ministries resigned.
  • 1942 - Quit India Movement begins (August).
  • 1946 - Mahatma Gandhi visits Noakhali and other riot-torn areas to stop communal violence.

The correct answer is Gandhiji's practice of disobedience.

Key Points Gandhian Ideologies:

• Civil Disobedience:
  • ​Non-violent method of boycotting institutional arrangements of the government.
  • Examples: Non-payment of taxes, the boycott of courts, schools, colleges, etc.
  • This principle greatly influenced Henry D. Thoreau.
• Satyagraha:
  • ​It means the exercise of the purest soul force against all injustice, oppression, and exploitation through non-violent actions.
  • It is a method of securing rights by personal suffering and not inflicting injury on others.
  • Inspired by Upanishads, Buddhism, Jainism, and Tolstoy.
• Sarvodaya:
  • ​The term was first coined by Gandhi Ji in the translation of John Ruskin's tract on political economy, "Unto This Last".
  • The literal meaning is "progress for all".
• Truth and Non-violence:
  • ​They constitute the twin cardinal principles of Gandhian thoughts.
  • For Gandhi Ji, truth is truthfulness in words and deeds, and the absolute truth is the ultimate reality which is God.

The correct answer is 1915.

Key Points

• Satyagraha Ashram at Ahmedabad is the place where Mahatma Gandhi lived after he returned from South Africa in 1915.
• The “Satyagraha Ashrama” was founded by Mahatama Gandhi at Kocharab near Ahmedabad in the year 1915.
• Later in 1917, the ashram was shifted to Sabarmati and came to be known as the “Sabarmati Ashram”.
• The ashram was relocated because Gandhiji wanted to carry out agricultural activities.

Additional Information

• Mahatma Gandhi is known as the Father of the Nation and is commonly called Bapu.
• His birthday on 2 October is commemorated in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday.
• He was a prolific writer. One of Gandhi's publications Hind Swaraj was published in Gujarati in 1909.
• He was the leader of various movements (Satyagraha, Champaran Movement, Kheda Movement).
• On 9th January, we celebrate Pravasi Bharatiya Divas or NRI Day because Gandhiji returned to India on this day from South Africa in 1915. 
• He became the president of Congress during its Belgaum session, 1924. 

The correct answer is - Gopal Krishna Gokhale

Key Points

• Gopal Krishna Gokhale
  • Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a prominent leader of the Indian National Movement, was known for his moderate political stance and belief in constitutional methods to achieve self-rule.
  • He recognized Mahatma Gandhi's potential early on and hailed him as a leader "without doubt made of the stuff of which heroes and martyrs are made."
  • Gokhale served as a mentor to Gandhi, guiding him during his early years in Indian politics after Gandhi's return from South Africa in 1915.
  • This statement reflects Gokhale's deep respect for Gandhi's character, commitment to truth, and his philosophy of non-violence.

Additional Information

• Role of Gopal Krishna Gokhale in Indian Freedom Movement
  • Gokhale was a senior leader in the Indian National Congress and played a significant role in shaping the moderate phase of the freedom struggle.
  • He founded the Servants of India Society in 1905 to promote education, social reforms, and self-reliance among Indians.
  • As a member of the Imperial Legislative Council, Gokhale advocated for reforms in education, public services, and policies affecting the poor.
• Gokhale's Influence on Gandhi
  • Gokhale encouraged Gandhi to understand Indian society's complexities and adopt a pragmatic approach to socio-political issues.
  • He emphasized the importance of self-discipline, public service, and non-violent methods, which became central to Gandhi's philosophy.
• Gandhi's Early Political Journey
  • After returning to India in 1915, Gandhi traveled extensively to understand the country's socio-economic conditions, following Gokhale's advice.
  • Gokhale's mentorship helped Gandhi transition from a lawyer in South Africa to a leader of India's masses.

The correct answer is - 1 and 4 only

Key Points

• Mahatma Gandhi broadened the base of nationalism
  • Gandhi encouraged the use of mother tongues for communication and education to make the nationalist movement more inclusive.
  • He also based Congress committees on linguistic regions, which helped in reaching out to a larger population.
• Newspapers as a source for studying the nationalist movement
  • Newspapers played a crucial role in disseminating information and mobilizing public opinion during the nationalist movement.
  • They are considered an important primary source for understanding the events and sentiments of that period.

Additional Information

• Autobiographies as historical sources
  • Autobiographies are subjective accounts of the past, reflecting the personal views and experiences of the author.
  • They are valuable for providing insight but should be corroborated with other sources for a balanced understanding.
• Congress party's stance post-Partition
  • After Partition, the Congress party did not accept the "two-nation theory" and continued to advocate for minority rights within a united India.
  • The party's commitment to secularism and minority rights remained a cornerstone of its ideology.

The correct answer is Sabarmati.

Key Points

Dandi March or Salt Satyagraha was started by Mahatma Gandhi in Sabarmati launched on March 12, 1930, and it lasted till April 5, 1930, in Dandi (Navsari).

• It was a part of Non-violent Civil Disobedience.
• It was against the tax collected by the British Raj on salt and Gandhi opposed this by producing salt through evaporation.
• This significantly influenced American activist's Martin Luther King, James Bevel, and others.
• It is also known as the White Flowing River as all people took part in the march by wearing White Khadi.
• Gandhi called it “Poor Man’s Struggle”.
• Due to this, mass civil disobedience was observed and Indians boycotted British clothes and goods.
• International Walk for Justice and Freedom – Mahatma Gandhi Foundation re-framed and cast the Salt March in 2005 on the 75^th anniversary of Dandi March
• National Salt Satyagraha Memorial – Dandi (inaugurated Jan 30, 2019)

Mistake Points

• C Rajgopalachari, Gandhi’s associate organized Vedaranyam Salt March along the east coast while Gandhi launched along the west coast.
• C Rajgopalachari was the 1^st Governor-General of India after Independence.
• 1^st women arrested in Salt March – Sarojini Naidu
• To commemorate the 50^th and 75^th anniversary of Dandi March in 1980 and 2005 respectively, stamps were also released by the government.

(Stamp released in 2005 on the 75^th anniversary of Dandi Satyagraha)

The correct answer is 1915.

Key Points

• Satyagraha Ashram at Ahmedabad is the place where Mahatma Gandhi lived after he returned from South Africa in 1915.
• The “Satyagraha Ashrama” was founded by Mahatama Gandhi at Kocharab near Ahmedabad in the year 1915.
• Later in 1917, the ashram was shifted to Sabarmati and came to be known as the “Sabarmati Ashram”.
• The ashram was relocated because Gandhiji wanted to carry out agricultural activities.

Additional Information

• Mahatma Gandhi is known as the Father of the Nation and is commonly called Bapu.
• His birthday on 2 October is commemorated in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday.
• He was a prolific writer. One of Gandhi's publications Hind Swaraj was published in Gujarati in 1909.
• He was the leader of various movements (Satyagraha, Champaran Movement, Kheda Movement).
• On 9th January, we celebrate Pravasi Bharatiya Divas or NRI Day because Gandhiji returned to India on this day from South Africa in 1915. 
• He became the president of Congress during its Belgaum session, 1924. 

The correct answer is 1946.

Key Points

• In 1946, Mahatma Gandhi visited Noakhali and other riot-torn areas to stop communal violence.
• The riots in Noakhali took place in the backdrop of unrest due to the demand for partition by the Muslim league.
• This happened in Noakhali, a place in then Bengal(now in Bangladesh) in the year 1946.
• Gandhiji visited the place to advocate his message of non-violence.
• A large scale of atrocities was committed against the members of the Hindu community.

Additional Information

• Important movements by Gandhi Ji:
  • ​1915 - Mahatma Gandhi returns from South Africa.
  • 1917 - Champaran movement.
  • 1918 - Peasant movements in Kheda (Gujarat), and workers’ movement in Ahmadabad
  • 1919 - Rowlatt Satyagraha (March-April).
  • 1919 - Jallianwala Bagh massacre (April).
  • 1921 - Non-cooperation and Khilafat Movements.
  • 1928 - Peasant movement in Bardoli.
  • 1929 - Purna Swaraj accepted as Congress's goal at the Lahore Congress (December).
  • 1930 - Civil Disobedience Movement begins; Dandi March (March-April).
  • 1931 - Gandhi-Irwin Pact (March); Second Round Table Conference (December).
  • 1935 - The Government of India Act promises some form of representative government.
  • 1939 - Congress ministries resigned.
  • 1942 - Quit India Movement begins (August).
  • 1946 - Mahatma Gandhi visits Noakhali and other riot-torn areas to stop communal violence.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, and in turn, inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.

Key Points

Champaran Satyagraha: 

• The Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 was the first Satyagraha movement led by Gandhiji in India and is considered a historically important revolt in the Indian Independence Movement.
• It was a farmer's uprising that took place in the Champaran district of Bihar, India, during the British colonial period. The farmers were protesting against having to grow indigo with barely any payment for it.
• Champaran, where tens of thousands of landless serfs, indentured labourers, and poor farmers were forced to grow indigo and other cash crops instead of the food crops which were necessary for their survival.
• These goods were bought from the farmers at a very low price. Suppressed by the brutal militias of the landlords, they were given negligible compensation, leaving them in extreme poverty.
• Even in the painful time of devastating famine, the British government levied a heavy tax on them and insisted on increasing the rate.
• Without food and money, the situation was growing progressively unbearable and the peasants in Champaran revolted against the government in indigo plant cultivation in 1914 (at Pipra) and in 1916 at (Turkaulia).
• Raj Kumar Shukla who was an indigo cultivator persuaded Mahatma Gandhi to go to Champaran and hence, the Champaran Satyagraha began. Gandhiji arrived in Champaran on 10 April 1917 with a team of eminent lawyers i.e.Brajkishore Prasad, Rajendra Prasad, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, and  Acharya Kripalani.

​Hence, the correct answer is to protest against British exploitation of the Indigo farmers.

The correct answer is Dr. BR Ambedkar participated in all three conferences.

Key Points

• MK Gandhi attended only the second round table conference which took place in 1931 representing the Indian National Congress. 
• Lord Irwin was the Governor-General and Viceroy of India from 3 April 1926 to 18 April 1931 and the First Round Table Conference held from November 1930 – January 1931. 
• The Congress participated in the Second Round Table Conference only. 
• B.R. Ambedkar took part in all the three round table conferences.
• Tej Bahadur Sapru also took part in all the three round table conferences.

Additional Information

• The three Round Table Conferences of 1930–32 were a series of peace conferences organized by the British Government and Indian political personalities to discuss constitutional reforms in India.
• The year in which these conferences took place are as follows:
  • First Round Table Conference (November 1930 – January 1931)
  • Second Round Table Conference (September 1931 – December 1931)
  • Third Round Table Conference (November – December 1932)

The correct answer is Champaran, Ahmedabad, Kheda, Non-cooperation.

Key Points

• The tale of Champaran (Bihar) starts in the early nineteenth century when European planters forced cultivators to cultivate indigo in 3/20th of their land holdings (Tin-Kathia).
• However, when indigo became unprofitable, European planters levied higher taxes to compensate for their losses in the foreign trade.
• Gandhi succeeded in abolishing the Tin-Kathia scheme in July 1917, and the cultivators received a salary refund.
• The mill owners and employees in Ahmedabad (March 1918) were fighting over the so-called "plague bonus," which the former decided to keep after the epidemic was over.
• Due to crop failure, the peasants of Kheda district (1917-1918) were in dire straits, and the government ignored their pleas for land revenue remission.
• Kheda's peasants were already struggling due to disease, high prices, and drought.
• Gandhi went on his first hunger strike in Ahmedabad in 1918 to protest a pay increase for mill employees.

Additional Information

• The Champaran Satyagraha(19 April 1917- 13 May 1917)
  • This was his first act of civil disobedience.
• The Rowlatt Satyagraha(6 April 1919 - March 1922)
  • This was his first all-India Satyagraha.
• The Kheda Satyagraha(22 March - 5 June 1918) 
  • ​This was his first non-cooperation movement.
• The first Non-Cooperation Movement
  • ​It was founded on 1 August 1920.

Subhash Chandra Bose, a Freedom Fighter addressed Mahatma Gandhi as "Father of the Nation" for the 1st time.

• Mahatma Gandhiji is revered in India as the Father of the Nation.
• Much before the Constitution of Free India conferred the title of the Father of the Nation upon the Mahatma, it was Bose who first addressed him as such in his condolence message to the Mahatma on the demise of Kasturba Gandhi.

Important Points

Mahatma Gandhi:

• He was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar.
• He was a politician, lawyer, writer, and social activist.
• Real name: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
• His father's name was Karamchand Gandhi, who was the dewan of Porbandar in Gujarat and Putlibai Gandhi was the mother of Mahatma Gandhi.
• Kasturba Gandhi was known as the wife of Mahatma Gandhi.
• He introduced non-violence tactics called Satyagraha against the British.
• His first satyagraha was Champaran Satyagraha in 1917.
• He was known as the father of the Nation, because of his contributions to the Indian Independence Movement
• Khilafat movement, Non-cooperation movement, the Salt March, and quit India movement are the most popular movements of Mahatma Gandhi initiated during the fighting for freedom.
• Rabindranath Tagore called him Mahatma
• Autobiography: My experiments with the truth.
• He was assassinated on January 30, 1948.

The correct answer is Operation Zero Hour.

Key Points

• Quit India Movement is also known as August Movement.
• Quit India Movement was launched at the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8 August 1942.
• It was officially launched by the Indian National Congress (INC) led by Mahatma Gandhi on 9 August 1942.
• The movement gave the slogans ‘Quit India’ and  Gandhiji gave the slogan to the people – ‘Do or die’. 
• It was a peaceful non-violent movement aimed at urging the British to grant India independence.
• The demands of INC were:
  • An immediate end to British rule over India.
  • Declaration of the commitment of free India to defend itself against all kinds of imperialism and fascism.
  • Formation of a provisional government of India after British withdrawal.
  • Sanctioning a civil disobedience movement against British rule.
• Operation Zero Hour was started by the British Government to arrest the leaders of the Quit India Movement.

Additional Information

• Causes for the Quit India Movement:
  • The British assumption of unconditional support from India to the British in World War II was not taken well by the Indian National Congress.
  • The immediate cause for the movement was the collapse of the Cripps Mission.
  • The Second World War had started in 1939 and Japan, which was part of the Axis Powers that were opposed to the British in the war were gaining onto the north-eastern frontiers of India.
  • Gandhiji believed that if the British left India, Japan would not have enough reason to invade India..

The correct answer is 1906-1907.

Key Points

• In 1906-07 Mahatma Gandhi led his first Satyagraha in South Africa protesting against the Asiatic Registration Act.
• In 1906, he led the first Civil Disobedience Movement (Satyagraha) against Asiatic Ordinance in Transvaal.
• In 1907, he led a Satyagraha against Compulsory Registration and Passes for Asians (The Black Act) in Transvaal.

Additional Information

• Mahatma Gandhi's timeline in South Africa:
• 1899: Foundation of Indian Ambulance Core during Boer Wars.
• 1904: Foundation of Indian Opinion (magazine) and Phoenix Farm, at Phoenix, near Durban.
• 1906: First Civil Disobedience Movement (Satyagraha) against Asiatic Ordinance in Transvaal.
• 1907: Satyagraha against Compulsory Registration and Passes for Asians (The Black Act) in Transvaal.
• 1908: Trial and imprisonment- Johannesburg Jail (First Jail Term).
• 1910: Foundation of Tolstoy Farm (Later-Gandhi Ashrama), near Johannesburg.
• 1913: Satyagraha against derecognition of non-Christian marriages in Cape Town.
• 1914: Awarded Kaisar-i-Hind for raising an Indian Ambulance Core during the Boer wars.

The correct answer is A police station at Chauri Chaura in Uttar Pradesh was set on fire by a mob.

Key Points

• The Non-cooperation movement:
  • It was launched on 5th September 1920 by the Indian National Congress (INC) under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.
  • In September 1920, in a Congress session in Calcutta, the party introduced the Non-Cooperation program.
  • Non-Cooperation Movement was a sequel to the Rowlatt Act, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, and the Khilafat Movement.
  • It was approved by the INC at the Nagpur session in December 1920.
  • Khadi & Charkha became a symbol of NCM.
  • The main aim of the Non- Cooperation movement was:
    • Work for the eradication of untouchability from society.
    • Adopt Swadeshi habits including hand spinning and weaving.
    • Adopt Swadeshi principles.
  • The whole movement was abruptly called off on 11^th February 1922 by Gandhi following the Chauri Chaura incident in the Gorakhpur district of UP (22 policemen burnt).
  • Thus, we can conclude that the main reason for calling off the Non-Cooperation Movement by Gandhiji in 1922 was that a police station at Chauri Chaura in Uttar Pradesh was set on fire by a mob. Hence, Option 1 is correct.