UPSC Prelims 2007 Q56: Modern History – Gandhian Mass Movements (1915 - 1942)

UPSC Prelims 2007, General Studies Paper I · Modern History

Which one of the following aroused a wave of popular indignation that led to the massacre by the British at Jallianwala Bagh?

Answer: (c) The Rowlatt Act

Explanation

Rowlatt Act (1919) → Jallianwala Bagh

Event	Date	Fact
Rowlatt Act	March 1919	Detention without trial up to 2 years; based on Sedition Committee (Justice S.A.T. Rowlatt)
Rowlatt Satyagraha	April 1919	Gandhi's first all-India protest
Arrests	10 April 1919	Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr Satyapal arrested in Amritsar
Massacre	13 April 1919 (Baisakhi)	General Dyer fired on an unarmed crowd at Jallianwala Bagh
Inquiry	Oct 1919	Hunter Committee

The slogan against the Act was "No vakil, no dalil, no appeal."

Rabindranath Tagore returned his knighthood in protest.

Answer: (c) The Rowlatt Act.

(a) Incorrect. The Arms Act (1878) restricted Indians from keeping arms; it did not trigger the 1919 protests.
(b) Incorrect. The Public Safety Bill belongs to 1928-29 (Bhagat Singh's Assembly bomb protest).
(c) CORRECT. Protests against the Rowlatt Act led to the arrest of Kitchlew and Satyapal and the meeting at Jallianwala Bagh.
(d) Incorrect. The Vernacular Press Act (1878) under Lytton gagged Indian-language newspapers.

Rowlatt Act (1919) = detention without trial → Rowlatt Satyagraha → Jallianwala Bagh massacre (13 April 1919).

Rowlatt Act anger → Jallianwala Bagh, 13 April 1919.

Mixing up the Public Safety Bill (1928) and the Rowlatt Act (1919) — both repressive, ten years apart.
Thinking the Jallianwala meeting was about Non-Cooperation. Non-Cooperation came later, in 1920.
Confusing Hunter Committee (government inquiry) with the Congress inquiry (Gandhi, Motilal, C.R. Das and others).

Order of 1919: Rowlatt Act (March) → Satyagraha (April 6) → Kitchlew-Satyapal arrests (April 10) → Massacre (April 13).