Match List – I of Pre-Congress organisations with List – II of their leaders and choose answer from the codes given below : List – I List – II a. Indian Association i. Dadabhai Naoroji b. Madras Mahajan Sabha ii. M. Viraraghavachariar c. Bombay Presidency Association iii. Justice Ranade d. Poona Sarvjanik Sabha iv. Surendranath Banerjee
a – iv, b – ii, c – i, d – iii
The correct matching is a – iv, b – ii, c – i, d – iii, option 2.
| Organisation | Founded | Leader | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indian Association | Calcutta, 1876 | Surendranath Banerjee, with Ananda Mohan Bose | The most important of the pre-Congress bodies; campaigned on the civil service age limit and drew in a wider public than the elite associations before it |
| Madras Mahajan Sabha | Madras, 1884 | M. Viraraghavachariar, with G. Subramania Iyer and P. Anandacharlu | Founders of The Hindu were associated with it |
| Bombay Presidency Association | Bombay, 1885 | Dadabhai Naoroji, with Pherozeshah Mehta and K. T. Telang — the “Bombay triumvirate” | Formed just months before the Congress |
| Poona Sarvajanik Sabha | Poona, 1870 | M. G. Ranade, with G. V. Joshi | Sent the first Indian petitions on the famine and revenue policy; Ranade is called the father of Indian economics |
How to solve it. Two pairings are near-certain: the Indian Association with Surendranath Banerjee and the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha with Ranade. Fixing a – iv eliminates options 1 and 3 at once, and the answer follows.
Why these bodies matter. They are the ancestors of the Congress. Each was regional, each was led by lawyers, journalists and teachers of the new English-educated class, and each petitioned the government on a particular grievance — the civil service, the revenue settlement, the press laws, the arms Act. What they lacked was a body that could speak for the whole country, and that is what the Indian National Congress of 1885 supplied. Several of these leaders were present at its first session, and the associations continued alongside it for years.
The earlier generation is worth carrying too: the Landholders’ Society (1838), the British Indian Association (1851), the East India Association founded in London by Naoroji in 1866, and the Indian League of 1875.
Hence, the answer is a – iv, b – ii, c – i, d – iii.
Important Questions from Growth of Political Ideas and Political Organisations upto 1885
Who set up the Asiatic Society of Bengal?
Which of the following personality is associated with Aligarh movement?
Who among the following was not a founding member of Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha?
Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj organisation in 1875 at which of the following places?
Which of the following pairs is incorrect?
