Enforcement Officer / Accounts Officer (EO/AO) 2020 recruitment test, advertisement 421. Transcribed from the Commission's own booklet (series A, NMJX-U-GTA); answer as per the official UPSC final answer key. This question is in Part B. Answer last reviewed 24 August 2026.

Who among the following was not part of the group of ‘no-changers’ in the Congress Party ?

(a)Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
(b)Dr. Ansari
(c)Babu Rajendra Prasad
(d)Motilal Nehru

Answer

Why

Correct — D, (d) Motilal Nehru. He was the leading pro-changer, not a no-changer, and the split the question refers to is the one that followed the collapse of non-cooperation. Gandhi suspended the movement after the burning of the police post at Chauri Chaura in February 1922 and was arrested in March and sentenced to six years. With the movement withdrawn and its leader in jail, the Congress had to decide what to do next, and it divided over one question: whether to contest the elections to the legislative councils set up under the Government of India Act, 1919. One group, led by C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru with Hakim Ajmal Khan, argued for entering the councils in order to obstruct them from within — non-cooperation carried inside the chamber, wrecking the reforms rather than leaving the seats to the government's men. They were called the pro-changers, because they wanted a change in the Congress programme. Those who opposed council entry and wanted the constructive programme continued — khadi and spinning, national schools, Hindu-Muslim unity, the removal of untouchability, temperance, and quiet preparation for the resumption of civil disobedience — were the no-changers, and among them were Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, C. Rajagopalachari and Dr. M.A. Ansari. The matter came to a head at the Gaya session of December 1922, over which C.R. Das presided; the council-entry resolution was defeated, Das resigned the presidency, and on 1 January 1923 he and Motilal Nehru formed the Congress-Khilafat Swaraj Party, with Das as president and Motilal Nehru as secretary. Three of this item's four names are therefore no-changers, and the fourth is the man who became secretary of the party the no-changers had voted down.

Why the others are wrong

(a)Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel — Vallabhbhai Patel was a no-changer, and one of the most uncompromising. He held that the Congress's strength lay in the villages and in constructive work rather than in the councils, and his own record over the next few years bears it out: he led the Borsad satyagraha of 1923 against a punitive police levy and the Bardoli satyagraha of 1928 against an enhanced land revenue assessment, the campaign that earned him the title Sardar. That is precisely the kind of work the no-changers said the Congress should be doing while the pro-changers were in the chamber. Patel had also given up a large legal practice at Ahmedabad for the non-cooperation movement, which is part of why the argument for returning to the institutions of the Act of 1919 had so little appeal for him.
(b)Dr. Ansari — Dr. Ansari — the booklet abbreviates the title, and the full name is Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari — was a no-changer and is regularly listed with Patel, Rajendra Prasad and Rajagopalachari as one of the group's leaders. A London-trained physician who had led an Indian medical mission to Turkey during the Balkan war, he came into national politics through the Khilafat movement, was a founder of Jamia Millia Islamia in 1920, presided over the Congress at its Madras session in 1927, and worked throughout for Hindu-Muslim cooperation within the Congress against the separate-electorate politics of the League. His presence among the no-changers is a reminder that the division of 1922-23 cut across every other line in the Congress and was purely about method.
(c)Babu Rajendra Prasad — Babu Rajendra Prasad was a no-changer, and Bihar under him was one of the strongholds of the constructive programme after 1922. He had given up his practice at the Calcutta and Patna bars for non-cooperation and put his energy into national education — he was among the founders of the Bihar Vidyapith — and into relief work, most famously after the Bihar earthquake of 1934. He went on to preside over the Congress in 1934, in 1939 and again in 1947, to serve as food and agriculture minister in the interim government, to preside over the Constituent Assembly, and to become the first President of India. As with Patel, the constructive-work record is the direct expression of the no-changer position.

Concept

The pro-changer and no-changer division was a disagreement about method inside a Congress that nobody wanted to break. The pro-changers, or Swarajists, held that a suspended movement leaves a political vacuum, that the councils would be filled by loyalists if nationalists stayed out, and that entering them to obstruct was itself a form of non-cooperation. The no-changers held that council work would corrupt the organisation, absorb its best men in committee business, and destroy the discipline built up in 1920-22, and that the real preparation for the next mass struggle lay in the villages. After the Gaya defeat the Swaraj Party was formed and did well in the elections of 1923, becoming the largest party in the Central Legislative Assembly and taking office in the Central Provinces; in the Assembly it defeated government bills, forced the appointment of the Muddiman Committee on the working of the reforms, and used the chamber as a platform. Gandhi, released in February 1924, disliked council entry but refused to let it split the Congress, and by the agreement of 1924 the Swarajists were recognised as working within the Congress as its parliamentary wing while the no-changers took charge of the constructive programme. That accommodation is the reason both groups were available, intact and inside the same organisation, when civil disobedience was resumed in 1930.

This paper's history strand asks who belonged to which named group more often than it asks what the group did, and three of its items are cast in exactly this negative form. The way to answer them quickly is to hold each faction as a short roster rather than as a description: pro-changers, C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru, Hakim Ajmal Khan; no-changers, Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Rajagopalachari, Ansari. The rosters are short enough to memorise and stable across every textbook, and an item like this is then a matter of spotting the single name that sits in the other column.

Key facts

Non-cooperation was withdrawn after Chauri Chaura in February 1922 and Gandhi was arrested in March 1922.
Pro-changers, or Swarajists, wanted to contest the elections to the councils created by the Government of India Act, 1919, and to obstruct them from within; they were led by C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru with Hakim Ajmal Khan.
No-changers opposed council entry and wanted the constructive programme continued; Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, C. Rajagopalachari and Dr. M.A. Ansari were among them.
The council-entry resolution was defeated at the Gaya session of December 1922, presided over by C.R. Das.
The Congress-Khilafat Swaraj Party was formed on 1 January 1923 with C.R. Das as president and Motilal Nehru as secretary.
The Swarajists performed strongly in the 1923 elections and became the largest party in the Central Legislative Assembly.
Gandhi accepted the arrangement in 1924, under which the Swarajists worked as part of the Congress while the no-changers ran the constructive programme.
Dr. M.A. Ansari founded Jamia Millia Islamia in 1920 and presided over the Congress at Madras in 1927; Rajendra Prasad presided in 1934, 1939 and 1947.

One question split the Congress after 1922 — enter the councils, or not

Motilal Nehru — a PRO-CHANGER→The leading pro-changer, not a no-changer. With C. R. Das and Hakim Ajmal Khan he argued for entering the legislative councils set up under the Government of India Act, 1919, in order to obstruct them from within — non-cooperation carried inside the chamber, wrecking the reforms rather than leaving the seats to the government’s men. They were called pro-changers because they wanted a change in the Congress programme.

The NO-CHANGERS→Those who opposed council entry and wanted the constructive programme continued — khadi and spinning, national schools, Hindu-Muslim unity, the removal of untouchability, temperance, and quiet preparation for the resumption of civil disobedience. Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, C. Rajagopalachari and Dr. M. A. Ansari were among them, and three of this item’s four names are theirs.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel→One of the most uncompromising of the group, holding that the Congress’s strength lay in the villages and in constructive work rather than in the councils. His own record over the next few years bears it out: the Borsad satyagraha of 1923 against a punitive police levy, and the Bardoli satyagraha of 1928 against an enhanced land revenue assessment.

Dr. Ansari and Babu Rajendra Prasad→Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari — the booklet abbreviates the title — was a London-trained physician who had led an Indian medical mission to Turkey during the Balkan war, came into national politics through the Khilafat movement, founded Jamia Millia Islamia in 1920 and presided over the Congress at Madras in 1927. Rajendra Prasad had given up his practice at the Calcutta and Patna bars for non-cooperation and made Bihar a stronghold of the constructive programme, helping found the Bihar Vidyapith and leading relief after the earthquake of 1934.

What brought the question to a head→Gandhi suspended non-cooperation after the burning of the police post at Chauri Chaura in February 1922, and was arrested in March and sentenced to six years. With the movement withdrawn and its leader in jail, the Congress had to decide what to do next. At the GAYA session of December 1922, over which C. R. Das presided, the council-entry resolution was DEFEATED; Das resigned the presidency, and on 1 January 1923 he and Motilal Nehru formed the Congress-Khilafat Swaraj Party, with Das as president and Motilal Nehru as secretary.

How the split was closed→The Swarajists did well in the 1923 elections, becoming the largest party in the Central Legislative Assembly and forcing the appointment of the Muddiman Committee on the working of the reforms. Gandhi, released in February 1924, disliked council entry but refused to let it split the Congress: by that year’s agreement the Swarajists became its parliamentary wing while the no-changers ran the constructive programme — which is why both groups were intact inside one organisation when civil disobedience resumed in 1930.

Study next

The Non-Cooperation and Khilafat movements, 1920-22, and the reasons for withdrawal after Chauri ChauraThe Swaraj Party's record in the legislatures, the Muddiman Committee and the Responsivist splitThe constructive programme: khadi, national education, Hindu-Muslim unity and the removal of untouchabilityThe Simon Commission, the Nehru Report of 1928 and the road to Purna Swaraj at Lahore in 1929The Bardoli satyagraha of 1928 and the peasant base of the Congress in Gujarat

Common traps

Reading the split as a personal quarrel or a permanent breach. Both groups remained inside the Congress and were reconciled within two years.
Confusing pro-changers with moderates. The Swarajists wanted council entry in order to wreck the councils, not to work them.
Forgetting that C. Rajagopalachari, the fourth name usually given with the no-changers, is absent from this option set; the item is answerable only by knowing that Motilal Nehru is on the other side.
Placing the Swaraj Party's formation at Gaya. Gaya was where council entry was defeated; the party was formed at Allahabad on 1 January 1923.
Assuming a Khilafat background or a Muslim League-era name implies opposition to the Congress mainstream. Dr. Ansari was a Congress president and a no-changer.

The Gaya split is asked in EPFO EO/AO papers either as this membership question or as a single fact about the Swaraj Party — its founders, its office-bearers, the session at which the proposal was defeated, or the year it was formed. A candidate who can name four no-changers, three pro-changers, the session and the date of formation has covered every version that has appeared.

Related PYQs

EPFO_EOAO_2020_Q91Open & attempt →

Who among the following did not represent the militant nationalist school of thought in India ?

(a) Ashwini Kumar Dutt
(b) Vishnushastri Chiplunkar
(c) Krishna Kumar Mitra
(d) Lala Lajpat Rai

Answer(c) Krishna Kumar Mitra

The item three questions earlier on this page, asking who did not represent the militant nationalist school. It is the same membership test applied to the previous generation's division, and the pair is worth studying together: the Congress divided over method in 1907 and again in 1922, and on both occasions the two wings stayed within one organisation and were reunited within a decade.

EPFO_EOAO_2020_Q74Open & attempt →

Who among the following was not a member of the Socialist group in the Congress Party ?

(a) Jayaprakash Narayan
(b) Rajendra Prasad
(c) N.G. Ranga
(d) Narendra Dev

Answer(b) Rajendra Prasad

The paper's third item of this design, on who was not a member of the Socialist group in the Congress. The Congress Socialist Party of 1934 is the next faction along the same timeline, formed by younger men who had grown impatient with both the constructive programme and the legislatures.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
The Swaraj Party formed on 1 January 1923 had which one of the following as its Secretary ?
- (a)C.R. Das
- (b)Motilal Nehru
- (c)Vallabhbhai Patel
- (d)M.A. Ansari
Answer(b) Motilal Nehru
practice — not a real PYQ
At which one of the following sessions of the Indian National Congress was the proposal for council entry defeated, leading to the formation of the Swaraj Party ?
- (a)Nagpur
- (b)Gaya
- (c)Belgaum
- (d)Lahore
Answer(b) Gaya

Why