Previous Year Question

Option (b) is correct. The 1929 Session of the Indian National Congress was held at Lahore under the presidentship of Jawaharlal Nehru. At this session, Poorna Swaraj, meaning complete independence from British rule, was accepted as the goal of the Congress. Dominion Status was thereafter not treated as the final objective of the Congress.

The Lahore Session authorised the Congress Working Committee to launch the Civil Disobedience Movement at an appropriate time. Congress members were also called upon to resign from legislatures and boycott future elections.

At the Congress’s call, 26 January 1930 was observed throughout the country for the first time as Independence Day or Poorna Swaraj Day, and the Independence Pledge was read. In honour of this historic date, the Constitution of independent India was brought into force on 26 January 1950.

Option (a) is incorrect: The demand for self-government belonged to earlier phases of the Congress. In particular, the demand for Swaraj was expressed at the Calcutta Session of 1906; the distinctive achievement of the Lahore Session of 1929 was complete independence.

Option (c) is incorrect: The Non-Cooperation Movement commenced in 1920. It was accepted at the Calcutta Special Session in September 1920 and endorsed at the Nagpur Session in December 1920.

Option (d) is incorrect: The First Round Table Conference commenced in November 1930 without the participation of the Congress. Following the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, Gandhiji attended the Second Round Table Conference in 1931 as the representative of the Congress.