UPSC STATIC QUIZ – History : 19 January 2024

Solution: b)

Option 1 is incorrect.

Congress Support for INA Prisoners

• At the first post-War Congress session in September 1945 at Bombay, a strong resolution was adopted declaring Congress support for the INA cause.
• Defence of INA prisoners in the court was organised by Bhulabhai Desai, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Kailash Nath Katju, Jawaharlal Nehru and Asaf Ali.
• INA Relief and Enquiry Committee distributed small sums of money and food, and helped arrange employment for the affected.
• Fund collection was organised.

Solution: a)

Only Statement 3 is correct.

Cabinet Mission Plan—Main Points

• Rejection of the demand for a full-fledged Pakistan.
• A constituent assembly to be elected by provincial assemblies by proportional representation (voting in three groups—General, Muslims, Sikhs).
• Provinces were to have full autonomy and residual powers.
• Princely states were no longer to be under paramountcy of British Government They would be free to enter into an arrangement with successor governments or the British Government.

Solution: b)

Statement 3 is incorrect.

Mountbatten Plan

(i) independence for princely states ruled out—they would join either India or Pakistan;

(ii) independence for Bengal ruled out;

(iii) accession of Hyderabad to Pakistan ruled out

(iv) freedom to come on August 15, 1947; and

(v) a boundary commission to be set up if partition was to be effected.

Solution: c)

Although the rebels received the sympathy of the people, the country as a whole was not behind them. The merchants, intelligentsia and Indian rulers not only kept aloof, but actively supported the British. Meetings were organized in Calcutta and Bombay by them to pray for the success of the British. Despite the Doctrine of Lapse, the Indian rulers who expected their future to be safer with the British liberally provided them with men and materials. Indeed, the sepoys might have made a better fight of it if they had received their support. Almost half the Indian soldiers not only did not Revolt but fought against their own countrymen.

Apart from some exceptions like the Rani of Jhansi, Kunwar Singh and Maulvi Ahmadullah, the rebels were poorly served by their leaders. Most of them failed to realize the significance of the Revolt and simply did not do enough.

Bahadur Shah and Zeenat Mahal had no faith in the sepoys and negotiated with the British to secure their safety. Most of the taluqdars tried only to protect their own interests. Some of them, like Man Singh, changed sides several times depending on which side had the upper hand. Apart from a commonly shared hatred for alien rule, the rebels had no political perspective or a definite vision of the future. They were all prisoners of their own past, fighting primarily to regain their lost privileges. Unsurprisingly, they proved incapable of ushering in a new political order.

Solution: b)

Statement 2 is incorrect.

Tatya Tope

Also known as Ramachandra Pandurang Tope, he was one of the most notable Indian freedom fighters and a general in the Rebellion of 1857.

• In May 1857, Tatya Tope won the battle over the Indian troops of the East India Company at Kanpur.
• He forced General Windham to retreat from the city of Gwalior.
• He collaborated with Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi to seize Gwalior.

Tatya Tope was defeated by Sir Colin Campbell (later Baron Clyde) on December 6, 1857. He was hanged on April 18, 1859, in General Meade’s camp at Shivpuri.