Who among the following never presided a Session of Indian National Congress ?
- (a)Lala Lajpat Rai
- (b)Bal Gangadhar Tilak
- (c)Gopal Krishna Gokhale
- (d)Subhash Chandra Bose
Correct — B, Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Despite being one of the tallest leaders of the freedom struggle — the 'Lokamanya', head of the Extremists and founder of the Indian Home Rule League (1916) — Tilak was never elected President of the Congress and never presided over a Congress session. The other three all did: Gokhale presided the 1905 Banaras session, Lala Lajpat Rai the 1920 Special (Calcutta) session, and Subhas Chandra Bose the Haripura (1938) and Tripuri (1939) sessions. So Tilak is the one who never presided a session of the INC.
- (a)Lala Lajpat Rai — Wrong — Lala Lajpat Rai did preside: he was President of the 1920 Special Session of the Congress at Calcutta, which took up the Non-Cooperation programme.
- (c)Gopal Krishna Gokhale — Wrong — Gokhale presided over the 1905 Banaras (Varanasi) session of the Indian National Congress, so he too held the office.
- (d)Subhash Chandra Bose — Wrong — Subhas Chandra Bose was Congress President twice, presiding the Haripura (1938) and Tripuri (1939) sessions before resigning over differences with Gandhi.
The Indian National Congress, founded in 1885, elected a President to preside over each annual session. Many top nationalists held the office, but Bal Gangadhar Tilak — for all his stature within the Congress and the wider movement — never became its President. This is a classic 'odd one out' recall question on Congress presidents/sessions.
The trap is Tilak's enormous prominence: students assume so central a figure must have presided a session. He led the Extremists, split and later reunited the Congress (Lucknow Pact, 1916) and ran the Home Rule League, but the presidency eluded him — whereas the three distractors each verifiably presided a named session.
- Bal Gangadhar Tilak never presided over a Congress session; he founded the Indian Home Rule League in 1916.
- Gopal Krishna Gokhale presided the 1905 Banaras session of the INC.
- Lala Lajpat Rai presided the 1920 Special (Calcutta) session that endorsed Non-Cooperation.
- Subhas Chandra Bose presided the Haripura (1938) and Tripuri (1939) sessions.
- Assuming a leader as prominent as Tilak must have been Congress President
- Confusing the regular 1920 Nagpur session (C. Vijayaraghavachariar) with the 1920 Special Calcutta session (Lala Lajpat Rai)
UPSC/UPPSC ask who presided a named session, the venue/year of a session, or (as here) the 'odd one out' who never held the Congress presidency.
The President of the Indian National Congress at the time of the partition of India was
- (a) C. Rajagopalachari
- (b) J. B. Kripalani
- (c) Jawaharlal Nehru
- (d) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
Answer(b) J. B. Kripalani
Same concept — identifying who held the office of Congress President (here at partition), the exact recall of INC presidents/sessions that lets you spot Tilak as the one who never presided.
Annie Besant was 1. Responsible for starting the Home Rule Movement 2. The founder of the Theosophical Society 3. Once the President of the Indian National Congress. Select the correct statement/statements using the codes given below.
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(c) 1 and 3 only
Also tests whether a named leader was ever a Congress President (Annie Besant presided the 1917 Calcutta session) — the same skill of knowing who did or did not hold the INC presidency.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Who presided over the 1938 Haripura session of the Indian National Congress?
- (a)Jawaharlal Nehru
- (b)Subhas Chandra Bose
- (c)Rajendra Prasad
- (d)Abul Kalam Azad
Answer(b) Subhas Chandra Bose — he was Congress President at Haripura (1938) and again at Tripuri (1939).
- practice — not a real PYQ
The 1905 Banaras session of the Indian National Congress was presided over by:
- (a)Dadabhai Naoroji
- (b)Gopal Krishna Gokhale
- (c)Bal Gangadhar Tilak
- (d)Surendranath Banerjee
Answer(b) Gopal Krishna Gokhale — he presided the 1905 Banaras session.