Q26
Indian National MovementCommunal Politics & Partition
Who observed: "The Congress is in reality a civil war without arms"?
- a.Lord Dufferin
- b.M.A. Jinnah
- c.Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
- d.Lord Curzon
Answer: (C) Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan said this while opposing the Congress in his Lucknow (1887) and Meerut (1888) speeches, arguing that representative government would mean rule by the Hindu majority. He founded the United Indian Patriotic Association (1888) with Raja Shiv Prasad of Benares to counter the Congress, having earlier founded the MAO College at Aligarh (1875). Lord Dufferin, the Viceroy when the Congress was born, dismissed it as representing a "microscopic minority"; Lord Curzon said the Congress was "tottering to its fall"; and Jinnah was in fact a Congress member from 1906 before joining the Muslim League in 1913.