Who among the following is one of the authors of the book “Philosophy of the Bomb ?”
- (a)Bhagat Singh
- (b)Jawaharlal Nehru
- (c)Surya Sen
- (d)Yashpal
Correct — D, Yashpal. 'The Philosophy of the Bomb' was the manifesto the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association put out in 1930 to answer Mahatma Gandhi, who had condemned the revolutionaries in his article 'The Cult of the Bomb' in Young India after the attempt of 23 December 1929 to blow up Viceroy Lord Irwin's train. Yashpal was a member of that association and is named in standard accounts as the writer of the reply, which the HSRA then published; he went on to become one of the major Hindi novelists of the twentieth century. Note the wording of the question — it asks for 'one of the authors', because the manifesto was a collective HSRA document rather than a signed book.
- (a)Bhagat Singh — He was already in jail when the manifesto appeared. Bhagat Singh had been arrested after the Central Legislative Assembly bomb of 8 April 1929 and was on trial in the Lahore conspiracy case through 1929-30, so the HSRA's public reply to Gandhi was not his work. His own prison writings of that period, such as 'Why I am an Atheist', are separate texts.
- (b)Jawaharlal Nehru — Nehru belonged to the Congress, not the HSRA, and had just presided over its Lahore session of December 1929. The manifesto was written against the position Gandhi and the Congress leadership had taken on revolutionary action, so a Congress president is the least likely author.
- (c)Surya Sen — Surya Sen led the Chittagong group in Bengal, a separate revolutionary current, and is remembered for the Chittagong armoury raid of 18 April 1930. He had no part in the north-Indian HSRA's pamphlet war with Gandhi.
The Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, formed in 1928, was the best-known revolutionary organisation of the late colonial period. Its members answered Gandhi in print as well as in action, and 'The Philosophy of the Bomb' is the fullest statement of their case — that a mass movement and armed action were not alternatives, and that the revolutionaries were not the mindless bomb-throwers Gandhi described. The exchange matters because it is one of the few places where the two strands of the freedom struggle argue with each other directly.
There is a genuine split in the sources on who held the pen. Most accounts credit Bhagwati Charan Vohra, writing in consultation with Chandrashekhar Azad; other accounts, including the standard reference article on Yashpal, say Yashpal wrote it and the HSRA published it. The examiner has closed that gap in advance by asking for 'one of the authors', and by leaving Vohra out of the four options altogether — so the only name in the list with any claim to the text is Yashpal, which is what the official key marks. When a question offers you a set in which three names belong to entirely different movements, the elimination is usually safer than the memory.
- 'The Philosophy of the Bomb' was issued in 1930 as the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association's reply to Gandhi's article 'The Cult of the Bomb'.
- The trigger was the attempt of 23 December 1929 to blow up the train carrying Viceroy Lord Irwin.
- Bhagwati Charan Vohra, who is not among the four options, is the name most often given as the author, with Chandrashekhar Azad consulted.
- Yashpal, the name the official key marks, was an HSRA member who later became a leading Hindi novelist.
- Bhagat Singh had been in custody since 8 April 1929 and could not have been the author.
Three of the four names sit outside the HSRA's 1930 pamphlet; the key marks Yashpal.
- Assuming every revolutionary text of 1929-31 must be Bhagat Singh's, when he was in custody for most of that period.
- Missing the phrase 'one of the authors', which signals a collectively written document.
- Mixing the Bengal revolutionaries with the north-Indian HSRA — they were separate networks.
NDA and UPSC both like text-to-author and organisation-to-leader items from the revolutionary strand, usually with one name from a different region planted in the list.
Match List I with List II and select the correct answer by using the codes given below the lists: List I — I. Chittagong Armoury Raid, II. Kakori Conspiracy, III. Lahore Conspiracy, IV. Ghadar Party. List II — A) Lala Hardayal, B) Jatin Das, C) Surya Sen, D) Ram Prasad Bismil, E) Vasudev Phadke
- (a) I–C, II–D, III–A, IV–E
- (b) I–D, II–C, III–B, IV–E
- (c) I–C, II–D, III–B, IV–A
- (d) I–B, II–D, III–C, IV–A
Answer(c) I–C, II–D, III–B, IV–A
The same map of revolutionary organisations and the people attached to each — Surya Sen with Chittagong, Bismil with Kakori, the Lahore case with Bhagat Singh's group.
Who among the following had organised, in 1904, a secret society of revolutionaries named Abhinav Bharat?
- (a) Khudiram Bose
- (b) Shyamji Krishna Verma
- (c) Har Dayal
- (d) V D Savarkar
Answer(d) V D Savarkar
Same testing habit — a revolutionary organisation or text put against four names, only one of which actually belongs to it.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Gandhi's article criticising the revolutionaries, to which 'The Philosophy of the Bomb' was a reply, was titled
- (a)The Doctrine of the Sword
- (b)The Cult of the Bomb
- (c)Hind Swaraj
- (d)The Great Sentinel
Answer(b) The Cult of the Bomb — Gandhi's Young India article condemning the attempt on Lord Irwin's train.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Hindustan Socialist Republican Association was formed in
- (a)1918
- (b)1922
- (c)1928
- (d)1936
Answer(c) 1928 — the Hindustan Republican Association was reorganised under the new name that year.