UPSC Prelims 2022 Q53: Ghadar Party and Revolutionaries — Explained
Consider the following freedom fighters:
1. Barindra Kumar Ghosh
2. Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee
3. Rash Behari Bose
Who of the above was/were actively associated with the Ghadar Party?
- 1 and 2
- 2 only
- 1 and 3
- 3 only
Answer: (d) 3 only
Statement-wise explanation
- 1: incorrect — Barindra Kumar Ghosh was a Bengal revolutionary, not a Ghadarite. He led the Jugantar group, named after the weekly Yugantar that began in Calcutta in 1906. He ran its bomb-making centre at the Muraripukur garden house in Calcutta. He was the main accused in the Alipore Bomb Case (1908–09). His death sentence was commuted to transportation for life, and he served it in the Cellular Jail in the Andamans.
- 2: incorrect — Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee belonged to the Anushilan Samiti of Bengal. In 1924 he was a founder member of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA). He was convicted in the Kakori conspiracy case, which followed the train action of 1925. His revolutionary work was in Bengal and the United Provinces. He had no link with the Ghadar Party, which overseas Indians founded in North America.
- 3: correct — Rash Behari Bose was already wanted for the 1912 bomb attack on Viceroy Hardinge in Delhi. He then became the main organiser inside India of the Ghadar revolt. Ghadarites returning from abroad worked with him. He fixed 21 February 1915 as the date for a mutiny in the Lahore, Ferozepur and Meerut cantonments. A police informer betrayed the plan. Bose escaped to Japan and later led the Indian Independence League.
How to eliminate
Option structure helps only a little. Statements 1 and 2 appear together in one option. Statements 1 and 3 appear together in another. If you know one fact for certain, you can narrow the choices to two. The cleanest anchor is Statement 3. Rash Behari Bose planning the February 1915 Ghadar uprising is a standard textbook fact. Once you accept it, only the options containing 3 remain, and you choose between them by placing Barindra Kumar Ghosh correctly. He was a Bengal revolutionary of the Alipore Bomb Case (1908), and his work was confined to Bengal. Watch for a trap: the Ghadar Party's San Francisco headquarters was called 'Yugantar Ashram'. The name can make you link Barindra's Jugantar group to the Ghadar Party, but the two are unrelated. In the end the question can only be solved by knowing which revolutionary worked in which circle. Remember this: Ghadar means North American Punjabi emigrants plus Rash Behari Bose's 1915 plan. Barindra means Jugantar and Alipore. Jogesh means Anushilan, the HRA and Kakori.
Know more
The Ghadar Party (1913) was founded by Indian emigrants, mostly Punjabi Sikh workers and farmers, on the Pacific coast of the USA and Canada. Sohan Singh Bhakna was its president and Lala Har Dayal its general secretary. It was headquartered at the Yugantar Ashram in San Francisco and named after its weekly paper Ghadar ('revolt'), which first appeared on 1 November 1913.
When the First World War began in 1914, thousands of Ghadarites sailed home to start an armed rising. The anger after the Komagata Maru incident (1914) added to the momentum. In India, Rash Behari Bose, Vishnu Ganesh Pingle and Sachindra Nath Sanyal took charge of coordination. The rising was set for 21 February 1915, but an informer exposed it. The Lahore Conspiracy Case trials followed, and leaders such as Kartar Singh Sarabha and Pingle were hanged.
Who belonged to which revolutionary stream
| Revolutionary | Main organisation(s) | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Rash Behari Bose | Ghadar network in India; Indian Independence League | Delhi bomb on Hardinge (1912); 1915 Ghadar plan; handed the INA to Subhas Bose (1943) |
| Barindra Kumar Ghosh | Jugantar (Bengal) | Alipore Bomb Case (1908); Andaman jail |
| Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee | Anushilan Samiti; HRA (1924) | Kakori conspiracy case; later co-founded the Revolutionary Socialist Party |
| Sohan Singh Bhakna, Har Dayal, Kartar Singh Sarabha | Ghadar Party | Founding the party, running the paper, the 1915 revolt |
Memory hook: Rash Behari Bose is the one name that runs through several revolutionary phases: Bengal revolutionaries, then Ghadar, then the movement in East Asia (Indian Independence League and INA). UPSC likes such bridge figures.
NCERT Concepts to Revise
- Rash Behari Bose: Statement 3 depends on what Rash Behari Bose did between 1912 and 1915 and which revolutionary network he worked with.
- Yugantar: Yugantar is both a Bengal revolutionary group and the name of a San Francisco ashram, a likely source of confusion here.
- Hindustan Republican Association: Helps place Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee's organisational links when you weigh Statement 2.
- Kakori train action 1925: The Kakori case shows which revolutionary movement of the 1920s Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee was tried in.
- Indian Independence League: Shows where Rash Behari Bose's later revolutionary career took him, which helps you date and place his earlier work.