HistoryModern India: Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist movement

The Congress ministries had been in office for two years when a world…

The Congress ministries had been in office for two years when a world war broke out, and Gandhi and Nehru offered the British conditional support. In which year did it begin?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 2

The correct answer is Option (2) → 1939

Option (1) 1937 — Incorrect. October 1939 is when the Congress ministries resigned, after the Viceroy refused the Congress offer. The war had begun a month earlier.

Option (2) 1939 — Correct. The Congress ministries took office in 1937. Two years later, in September 1939, the Second World War broke out, and Gandhi and Nehru offered support in return for a promise of independence.

Option (3) 1940 — Incorrect. March 1940 is the month of the Muslim League resolution for autonomy of Muslim-majority areas.

Option (4) 1942 — Incorrect. March 1942 is when Stafford Cripps came to India for talks, well after the war had begun.

NCERT (2026-27): “3.2 Dialogues …
In September 1939, two years after the Congress ministries assumed office, the Second World War broke out. Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru had both been strongly critical of Hitler and the Nazis. Accordingly, they promised Congress support to the war effort if the British, in return, promised to grant India independence once hostilities ended.”