Moderates & Extremists MCQs for UPSC Prelims

Correct answer: A - Swadeshi Movement

The Swadeshi Movement, which followed the partition of Bengal in 1905, sharpened differences within the Congress over methods and over extending boycott beyond Bengal. The extremists led by Tilak, Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal wanted aggressive extension of the movement, while the moderates favoured constitutional methods, and the clash culminated in the Surat split of 1907. The Quit India Movement (1942), the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22) and the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-34) all belong to the Gandhian era, decades after the moderate-extremist divide had emerged and the two wings had reunited in 1916, so none of them caused this split.

Correct answer: B - Extremists' lack of faith in the capacity of the moderates to negotiate with the British Government

The Surat split of 1907 grew out of a fundamental divergence in method and faith: the Extremists led by Tilak, Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal believed the Moderates' politics of petitions and negotiation with the British had failed, especially after the partition of Bengal, and pressed for extending the boycott and swadeshi programme, which the Moderates under Gokhale resisted. The dispute over the presidency (Rash Behari Ghose versus the Extremists' preference) was only the immediate trigger, not the underlying cause. Minto's communal electorates came with the 1909 reforms, and the Muslim League's founding in 1906, while significant, did not cause the Congress split; Aurobindo Ghosh was never a presidential candidate whose defeat triggered it.

Correct answer: C - Lala Lajpat Rai

The clues point to Lala Lajpat Rai, who wrote biographies of figures like Mazzini, Garibaldi and Shivaji, spent time in the United States, and was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly. So 'C' is correct. Aurobindo Ghosh turned to spirituality and did not match this profile, Bipin Chandra Pal was an orator-journalist, and Motilal Nehru was a Congress leader and lawyer, none fitting all the clues.

Correct answer: B - King George V abrogated Curzon’s Act at the Royal Durdar in Delhi in 1911

The 1905 Partition of Bengal provoked the Swadeshi agitation and was finally annulled by King George V at the Royal Durbar held in Delhi in 1911, when Bengal was reunited and the capital was shifted to Delhi, so option (b) is correct. It did not last into the First World War, was not ended by the Civil Disobedience Movement (which came much later), and did not survive until 1947.

Correct answer: A - agitation against the Partition of Bengal

Swadeshi and Boycott emerged as organised methods of struggle during the anti-Partition of Bengal agitation of 1905, when Indians boycotted British goods and promoted indigenous production, so option (a) is correct. The Home Rule Movement of 1916 came later and focused on self-government rather than introducing these methods, ruling out option (b). The Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920-22 revived and broadened boycott on a mass scale but did not adopt it for the first time, so option (c) is wrong. The protests against the Simon Commission in 1927-28 used the slogan 'Simon Go Back' and came much later, eliminating option (d).

Correct answer: C - 1 and 3 only

Annie Besant launched the All India Home Rule League in 1916 (alongside Tilak's league), so statement 1 is correct. She also became the first woman President of the Indian National Congress at its 1917 Calcutta session, so statement 3 is correct. However, she was not the founder of the Theosophical Society, which was established in 1875 in New York by Madame H. P. Blavatsky and Colonel H. S. Olcott; Besant only later became its president. Hence only statements 1 and 3 are correct.

Correct answer: A - 1 and 2 only

Desher Katha (1904) detailed the British exploitation of India and famously cautioned readers against the colonial state's hypnotic conquest of the mind, the subtle mental subjugation that accompanied political control, so statement 1 is correct. The book became enormously popular during the Swadeshi movement and inspired street plays, jatras and folk songs, so statement 2 is also correct. Although Deuskar wrote in Bengali, his 'desh' referred to the whole of India as the nation, not merely the Bengal region, which makes statement 3 incorrect. The answer is therefore 1 and 2 only.

Correct answer: A - Bal Gangadhar Tilak

The slogan "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it" is attributed to Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a leading Extremist. Gokhale was a Moderate who favoured constitutional methods. Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai were the other two of the Lal-Bal-Pal trio but the specific slogan is associated with Tilak. Hence Tilak.