Consider the following statements: 1. The growth of socialist tendency in the national movement led to the foundation of the Congress Socialist Party in 1934 under the leadership of Acharya Narendra Deva and Jayaprakash Narayan. 2. In 1936, Jawaharlal Nehru urged the Congress to accept socialism as its goal and to bring itself closer to the peasantry and the working class. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Correct — C, Both 1 and 2. The Congress Socialist Party was formed in 1934 by a younger group within the Congress — Acharya Narendra Deva as its president and Jayaprakash Narayan as general secretary, with Minoo Masani, Achyut Patwardhan, Asoka Mehta and Yusuf Meherally around them — after the Civil Disobedience Movement was suspended and many of them met in jail. That is statement 1. Statement 2 is equally well attested: at the Lucknow session of 1936, presiding over the Congress, Jawaharlal Nehru argued that the party should accept socialism as its goal and should build its links with the peasantry and the working class, and it was around that time that the Congress opened its doors formally to members of the peasant and labour organisations.

• (a)1 only — Rejects Nehru's Lucknow address, which is among the best-documented moments of the Congress's engagement with socialism.
• (b)2 only — Rejects the founding of the Congress Socialist Party, whose date and leadership are not in dispute.
• (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Both statements are accurate, so this option requires two independent errors that are not there.

The 1930s pulled the national movement leftward. The world depression, the collapse of prices for Indian farm produce, and the disappointment that followed the suspension of Civil Disobedience all pushed a younger generation towards socialist answers. The Congress Socialist Party worked inside the Congress rather than against it, arguing for the transfer of power to producers, and its members carried peasant and trade-union work into the wider movement.

Both statements name people and dates precisely, which is usually a sign that the examiner has taken them from a standard text rather than planted an error. The productive way to read such a pair is to test each name separately — Narendra Deva and Jayaprakash Narayan for the party, Nehru and 1936 for the Lucknow address — and each survives. The All India Kisan Sabha, founded the same year as the Lucknow session, is the parallel development worth remembering alongside them.

• The Congress Socialist Party was founded in 1934; Acharya Narendra Deva presided and Jayaprakash Narayan was general secretary.
• It functioned as a group within the Congress rather than as a rival party.
• Nehru presided at the Lucknow session of 1936 and pressed the case for socialism as the Congress goal.
• The All India Kisan Sabha was formed in 1936 with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati as its first president.
• Several CSP leaders later founded the Praja Socialist Party after independence.

• Dating the Congress Socialist Party to the Quit India years because of Jayaprakash Narayan's later underground work.
• Attributing the Lucknow socialism address to Subhas Chandra Bose, who presided in 1938 and 1939.

A two-statement item where both statements are true, so the trap is the expectation that at least one must be planted.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Who was the president of the Congress Socialist Party at its foundation in 1934?

  • (a)Acharya Narendra Deva
  • (b)Jayaprakash Narayan
  • (c)Minoo Masani
  • (d)Asoka Mehta

  Answer(a) Acharya Narendra Deva — with Jayaprakash Narayan as general secretary.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  At which Congress session did Jawaharlal Nehru press for socialism as the goal of the party?

  • (a)Lahore, 1929
  • (b)Karachi, 1931
  • (c)Lucknow, 1936
  • (d)Tripuri, 1939

  Answer(c) Lucknow, 1936 — his presidential address urged the Congress towards socialism and closer ties with peasants and workers.