Q82
Indian National MovementRise of Nationalism & the Congress
Who propagated the 'safety valve theory' and about which organization?
- a.A. O. Hume, about Indian National Congress
- b.Lord Dufferin about Indian Association
- c.Charles Tegart for Zamindari Association
- d.Lord Macaulay for British-India League
Answer: (A) A. O. Hume, about Indian National Congress
The 'safety valve' theory holds that A. O. Hume, a retired ICS officer, founded the Indian National Congress in 1885 with Viceroy Lord Dufferin's blessing, to provide a harmless outlet for rising Indian discontent and prevent another 1857. It rests on William Wedderburn's biography of Hume, was popularised by Lala Lajpat Rai (Young India, 1916) and R. Palme Dutt, and is rejected by historians such as Bipan Chandra, who argue that the early nationalists used Hume as a 'lightning conductor'. The Indian Association (1876), the Zamindari Association or Landholders' Society (1838) and the British Indian Association (1851) are earlier bodies used here as distractors.