Consider the following statements about the Rowlatt Act of 1919 : 1. It was passed by the Imperial Legislative Council 2. Khilafat Committee was formed to oppose the Act 3. While Gandhiji was arrested, the local leaders were allowed to continue the protest How many of the above statements is/are NOT correct?
- (a)One
- (b)Two
- (c)Three
- (d)None
Correct — B, Two. Take the statements one at a time. Statement 1 is correct: the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, known as the Rowlatt Act, was passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in March 1919, and it was pushed through despite every Indian member voting against it, which is why Jinnah, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Mazhar-ul-Haq resigned from the Council. Statement 2 is not correct: the Khilafat Committee grew out of Indian Muslim anxiety over the fate of the Ottoman Caliph after the First World War, and the organisation Gandhi founded to fight this Act was the Satyagraha Sabha, set up in February 1919. Statement 3 is not correct either: the local leaders were not left free to carry on the protest. Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr Satyapal were arrested and deported from Amritsar on 10 April 1919, and the crowd that gathered to demand their release is what led to the firing at Jallianwala Bagh on 13 April. Gandhi himself was stopped near Palwal on 9 April while travelling towards Punjab and sent back to Bombay. Two statements fail, so the answer is Two.
- (a)One — This counts only one failure, and the natural candidate is statement 3. Statement 2 fails as well: the Khilafat Committee was formed over the Caliphate question, not to oppose this Act.
- (c)Three — Statement 1 is sound. The Act was indeed passed by the Imperial Legislative Council, on 18 March 1919, over the unanimous objection of its Indian members.
- (d)None — Two statements are wrong, so 'None' cannot stand. The Khilafat agitation and the arrest of the Amritsar leaders both contradict the paper's wording.
The Rowlatt Act of 1919 extended wartime emergency powers into peacetime, allowing detention without trial and trial without jury for political offences. Gandhi's response was the Rowlatt Satyagraha, the first countrywide campaign he led, organised through the Satyagraha Sabha and launched with a hartal on 6 April 1919. The Khilafat movement was a separate cause with a separate committee, formed in the same year over the treatment of Turkey and its Caliph, and the two streams joined only in 1920, when Non-Cooperation and Khilafat were fused.
Counting items of this shape reward slow reading, because each statement has to be judged on its own before the tally is made. Two of these fail for the same underlying reason — they attach the right year to the wrong cause and the wrong outcome. The chronology is worth holding tightly: the Act was passed on 18 March, the Satyagraha Sabha had already been formed in February, the hartal fell on 6 April, Gandhi was turned back near Palwal on 9 April, Kitchlew and Satyapal were arrested on 10 April, and Dyer's troops fired at Jallianwala Bagh on 13 April.
- The Rowlatt Act, formally the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, was passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in March 1919 despite the unanimous opposition of its Indian members.
- Jinnah, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Mazhar-ul-Haq resigned from the Council in protest.
- Gandhi's Satyagraha Sabha, formed in February 1919, led the campaign against the Act.
- The Khilafat Committee of 1919 was concerned with the Ottoman Caliphate after the First World War, not with this Act.
- Kitchlew and Satyapal were arrested on 10 April 1919, and the protest at their arrest led to the Jallianwala Bagh firing on 13 April.
- February 1919 — Satyagraha Sabha founded to resist the coming Act
- 18 March 1919 — the Act passed by the Imperial Legislative Council over unanimous Indian opposition
- 6 April 1919 — countrywide hartal opens the Rowlatt Satyagraha
- 9 April 1919 — Gandhi stopped near Palwal on his way to Punjab and sent back
- 10 April 1919 — Kitchlew and Satyapal arrested and deported from Amritsar
- 13 April 1919 — firing at Jallianwala Bagh
- Assuming any body formed in 1919 must have been a response to this Act.
- Believing the Punjab leaders were left free while Gandhi alone was detained.
- Miscounting in a 'how many are NOT correct' item by tallying the correct ones instead.
A counting item on statements, where the answer is a number rather than a set — every statement must be judged individually and the wrong ones tallied.
Assertion (A): In 1916, Maulana Mohammad Ali and Abul Kalam Azad resigned from the Legislative Council. Reason (R): The Rowlatt Act was passed by the government in spite of being opposed by all Indian members of the Legislative Council.
- (a) Both A and R are individually true and R is the correct explanation of A
- (b) Both A and R are individually true but R is NOT the correct explanation of A
- (c) A is true but R is false
- (d) A is false but R is true
Answer(d) A is false but R is true
The keyed statement that settles the first of the three claims here. UPSC marks the reason true: the Act was passed although every Indian member of the Council opposed it, which is why several of them resigned.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The organisation founded by Gandhi in February 1919 to oppose the Rowlatt Bills was
- (a)the Home Rule League
- (b)the Satyagraha Sabha
- (c)the Khilafat Committee
- (d)the Servants of India Society
Answer(b) the Satyagraha Sabha — its members pledged to disobey the Act once passed.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which pair of Amritsar leaders was arrested on 10 April 1919, setting off the protests that ended at Jallianwala Bagh?
- (a)Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh
- (b)Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satyapal
- (c)Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev
- (d)Madan Mohan Malaviya and Mazhar-ul-Haq
Answer(b) Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satyapal — both were arrested and deported from the city.