A research scholar in a Delhi archive is reading newspaper files from 1942 to 1947. She marks reports of a nationwide movement against British rule, of an upsurge in the spring of 1946 that won wide public support, and of strikes by workers and peasants in different regions. She notes who took part in these protests and how they behaved towards one another. She then turns to reports on talks between the major political parties and to news of communal violence in 1946, trying to see how the period led up to the work of the Constituent Assembly.
The nationwide movement in the scholar's 1942 files is seen as perhaps the most widespread popular movement against the British Raj. Which movement is it?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → The Quit India struggle
Option (1) The Non-Cooperation Movement — Incorrect. The Non-Cooperation Movement was an earlier mass campaign of the early 1920s.
Option (2) The Civil Disobedience Movement — Incorrect. The Civil Disobedience Movement began with the Salt March of 1930, more than ten years before 1942.
Option (3) The Quit India struggle — Correct. The Quit India struggle of 1942 was perhaps the most widespread popular movement against the British Raj. It was still fresh in popular memory when the Constitution was being made.
Option (4) The Khilafat Movement — Incorrect. The Khilafat Movement ran alongside Non-Cooperation in the early 1920s.
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