Who among the following was the President of the Indian National Congress at the time of independence of India ?

Correct — D, (d) J.B. Kripalani.

Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani, universally known as Acharya Kripalani, held the presidency of the Indian National Congress when power was transferred on 15 August 1947. He was elected to the office at the Meerut session in 1946 and continued through 1947, so the presidency at independence is his.

He is worth knowing beyond this single fact. Born on 11 November 1888 and living until 19 March 1982, he was among the workers Gandhi drew in early — he was with him in Champaran — and he organised for the Salt Satyagraha and for the Quit India movement. He served in the interim government of 1946–47, and he was the first member to address the Constituent Assembly when it met on 9 December 1946. After independence he fell out with Nehru and Patel over how much say the party organisation should have in the decisions of the government, and he left the Congress to spend the rest of his long career in opposition. He was married to Sucheta Kripalani.

The reason the item is set at all is that the presidency changed hands three times in the seven years before independence, and the three holders are all household names. Sorting them by date is the whole of the question, and the sequence to hold is Azad through the war years to 1946, Nehru for a few months in 1946, and Kripalani from the Meerut session of 1946 through the transfer of power.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)Pattabhi Sitaramayya — Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya was Congress president in 1948 and 1949, the Jaipur session falling in his term — that is, AFTER independence, not at it. The option is placed here to catch a candidate who dates him roughly to ‘around 1947’ and does not check which side of August 1947 the term falls on. He is more often remembered for an earlier episode: at the Tripuri session in 1939 he was Gandhi’s candidate for the presidency and was defeated by Subhas Chandra Bose, a result Gandhi described as his own defeat. Knowing him by that contest and then assuming he must also have held office at independence is the exact path this option is built for.
• (b)Jawaharlal Nehru — Nehru was Congress president in 1946, but only from July to September, and his term had ended well before August 1947. The confusion this option exploits is a real and understandable one: it was under Nehru’s presidency that the interim government was formed, with Nehru himself as its head, and he went on to become the first Prime Minister of independent India. So Nehru IS the man at the head of affairs in 1947 — as head of the interim government and then as Prime Minister — but the specific office the question asks about, the presidency of the party, had passed to Kripalani by then. Distinguishing the office of Congress president from the office of head of government is precisely what the item is testing.
• (c)Abul Kalam Azad — Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was Congress president from 1940 to 1946, elected at the Ramgarh session — the longest continuous term in the party’s history and the one that covers the whole of the war. He led the Congress through the Cripps Mission, the Quit India resolution and the arrests that followed, and through the Cabinet Mission negotiations of 1946. That six-year span makes him the name most strongly associated with the Congress leadership of the 1940s, which is why the option is attractive; but his term ended in 1946, when Nehru succeeded him and Kripalani followed at the Meerut session. Azad went on to become independent India’s first Minister of Education.

The presidency of the Indian National Congress in the decade before independence changed hands in a sequence worth memorising, because examiners return to it repeatedly.

1939, TRIPURI — Subhas Chandra Bose is re-elected, defeating Gandhi’s candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya; Gandhi calls the result his own defeat, and Bose resigns soon after, going on to found the Forward Bloc.

1940 to 1946, from RAMGARH — Abul Kalam Azad holds the office for six unbroken years, through the Cripps Mission, Quit India and the imprisonment of the leadership, and through the Cabinet Mission talks.

1946, July to September — Jawaharlal Nehru. The interim government is formed under this presidency, with Nehru at its head.

1946, MEERUT, and 1947 — J. B. Kripalani. This is the presidency at the transfer of power on 15 August 1947.

1948 and 1949, including the JAIPUR session — Pattabhi Sitaramayya, after independence.

The distinction the item turns on is between party office and government office, and it is a distinction that matters for more than this question. The Congress president headed the party organisation; the head of government in 1946–47 was the Vice-President of the Viceroy’s Executive Council, the position Nehru occupied in the interim government and which became the prime ministership. Kripalani’s later break with Nehru and Patel was about exactly this relation — how far the party organisation could direct a government drawn from it — which is a good illustration of why the two offices should not be collapsed into one.

A related fact often asked alongside: when the Constituent Assembly first met on 9 December 1946, Kripalani was the first member to address it. Sachchidananda Sinha served as its temporary chairman and Rajendra Prasad was elected its permanent President.

Key facts

• J. B. Kripalani was President of the Indian National Congress at the transfer of power in 1947, having been elected at the Meerut session in 1946.
• Abul Kalam Azad was Congress president from 1940, elected at Ramgarh, until 1946 — the longest continuous term, covering the war years.
• Jawaharlal Nehru was Congress president only from July to September 1946, the term under which the interim government was formed.
• Pattabhi Sitaramayya was Congress president in 1948 and 1949, including the Jaipur session — after independence.
• At Tripuri in 1939 Subhas Chandra Bose defeated Sitaramayya, who was Gandhi’s candidate; Gandhi called the result his own defeat.
• Kripalani lived from 11 November 1888 to 19 March 1982, served in the interim government of 1946–47, and was married to Sucheta Kripalani.
• He was the first member to address the Constituent Assembly when it met on 9 December 1946.
• He left the Congress after differences with Nehru and Patel over the party organisation’s say in the decisions of the government.

Common traps

• Choosing Nehru because he was the leader of the country in August 1947. He was head of the interim government and then Prime Minister; the party presidency had passed to Kripalani.
• Choosing Azad because his was the long term everyone remembers from the 1940s. It ended in 1946.
• Placing Sitaramayya’s presidency before independence rather than after it. He held the office in 1948 and 1949.
• Assuming the president at independence must have been one of the most famous names. Kripalani is the less celebrated of the four and is the answer.
• Confusing the Congress presidency with the presidency of the Constituent Assembly, which was Rajendra Prasad’s.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Who among the following was the President of the Indian National Congress at the Ramgarh session of 1940 ?

  • (a)Subhas Chandra Bose
  • (b)Abul Kalam Azad
  • (c)J.B. Kripalani
  • (d)Rajendra Prasad

  Answer(b) Abul Kalam Azad — he was elected at Ramgarh in 1940 and held the office until 1946, the longest continuous term, covering the Cripps Mission, Quit India and the Cabinet Mission.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  At the Tripuri session of 1939, Subhas Chandra Bose was elected President of the Indian National Congress by defeating which candidate ?

  • (a)J.B. Kripalani
  • (b)Abul Kalam Azad
  • (c)Pattabhi Sitaramayya
  • (d)Jawaharlal Nehru

  Answer(c) Pattabhi Sitaramayya — he was Gandhi’s candidate, and Gandhi described his defeat as his own. Sitaramayya went on to hold the presidency himself in 1948 and 1949, after independence.