After the First World War, the Triveni Sangh was formed by
- (a)the Jats and Gujjars
- (b)the Rajputs and Yadavs
- (c)the Jats and Yadavs
- (d)the Ahirs and Kurmis
Correct — D, the Ahirs and Kurmis. The Triveni Sangh was a caste alliance of the Yadavs or Ahirs, the Kurmis and the Kushwahas or Koeris — three cultivating communities of Bihar. Its name says so: triveni is the confluence of three streams, after the Ganga, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati at Allahabad. It took shape in Shahabad district and was organised in 1934, and at its height it claimed over a million dues-paying members. What it wanted was political weight for what one account calls the middle peasant castes, and in particular a share of Congress nominations, which upper-caste candidates were taking. Option (d) names two of the three constituents, and no other option names any of them.
- (a)the Jats and Gujjars — Both are communities of the north-western plains — western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab — not of the Bihar districts where the Sangh was organised.
- (b)the Rajputs and Yadavs — Names one constituent and one opponent. Rajputs were among the landholding upper castes whose grip on Congress tickets and on village authority the Sangh was formed to challenge.
- (c)the Jats and Yadavs — Half right and half wrong in the same way. Yadavs were the largest constituent; Jats belong to a different region entirely and had no part in it.
Between the wars, cultivating castes in the Hindi-speaking provinces began to organise on their own account rather than only through the Congress or the Kisan Sabhas. Caste associations pooled numbers across several communities of similar ritual and economic standing, ran their own candidates, and pressed for representation in provincial politics. The Triveni Sangh is the best-known Bihar example, and its logic — arithmetic solidarity among middle castes — reappears in the backward-class politics of the 1960s and after.
The way in is the name. Triveni means a meeting of three, so the answer must name constituents of a three-caste front, and only one option does. Note the paper's dating: it says 'after the First World War', which is true only in the loosest sense, since the Sangh is generally placed in the 1930s, with some accounts tracing stirrings to the 1920s. Note also that option (a) is printed as Gujjars with a doubled j; both Gujjar and Gujar are in ordinary use for that community and the spelling makes no difference to the answer here.
- The Triveni Sangh joined the Yadavs (Ahirs), the Kurmis and the Kushwahas (Koeris).
- It was organised in 1934 in Shahabad district of Bihar, with some accounts tracing its beginnings to the 1920s.
- The name refers to the confluence of the Ganga, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati at Allahabad.
- It claimed more than a million dues-paying members at its peak.
- Its grievance was the dominance of upper castes in Congress candidate selection and in provincial politics.
The word triveni promises three constituents; only one option supplies any of them.
- Mixing the Triveni Sangh up with the Kisan Sabha; one is a caste front, the other a tenants' union.
- Assuming a caste alliance named in a Bihar question must involve the region's most famous landholding castes.
- Taking the paper's 'after the First World War' as a precise date; the Sangh belongs to the 1930s.
As a who-formed-it pick like this one, or inside a matching item on interwar caste and peasant organisations.
Who among the following was not associated with the formation of U.P. Kisan Sabha in February 1918?
- (a) Indra Narain Dwivedi
- (b) Gauri Shankar Misra
- (c) Jawaharlal Nehru
- (d) Madan Mohan Malviya
Answer(c) Jawaharlal Nehru
The other track of rural organisation in the same provinces and the same decades. The Kisan Sabhas organised tenants against landlords; the Triveni Sangh organised cultivating castes against upper-caste political dominance.
Consider the following historical events: 1. Gandhi-Irwin Pact 2. Second Round Table Conference 3. Peasant Movement in Bardoli 4. Peasant Movement in Kheda Which one of the following is the correct chronological order (starting from the earliest) of the above events?
- (a) 4–1–3–2
- (b) 4–3–1–2
- (c) 3–1–2–4
- (d) 1–2–4–3
Answer(b) 4–3–1–2
Sets the interwar rural movements in order — Kheda 1918, Bardoli 1928 — which is the decade-by-decade frame the Triveni Sangh of the 1930s belongs in.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The name 'Triveni Sangh' referred to an alliance of how many communities?
- (a)Two
- (b)Three
- (c)Five
- (d)Seven
Answer(b) Three — Yadavs, Kurmis and Kushwahas, after the confluence of three rivers at Allahabad.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Triveni Sangh was organised principally in which one of the following provinces?
- (a)Punjab
- (b)Bihar
- (c)Madras
- (d)Bombay
Answer(b) Bihar — it took shape in Shahabad district in the 1930s.