Previous Year Question

Annie Besant was:

responsible for starting the Home Rule Movement.
the founder of the Theosophical Society.
once the President of the Indian National Congress.

Select the correct statement/statements using the codes given below:

1 only

2 and 3 only

1 and 3 only

1, 2 and 3

Correct Answer: C

Detailed Solution

Statement 1 is correct. Annie Besant launched the All India Home Rule League at Madras in September 1916. Its objective was to secure self-government for India through constitutional means. A few months earlier, Bal Gangadhar Tilak had established his Indian Home Rule League in April 1916. Together, the two leaders gave the Home Rule Movement an all-India character.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The Theosophical Society was founded in New York on 17 November 1875, principally by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Colonel Henry Steel Olcott. Annie Besant was not its founder. She joined it later and served as its second international president from 1907 to 1933.

Statement 3 is correct. Annie Besant presided over the 1917 Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress. She was the first woman President of the Congress.

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