Previous Year Question
Who among the following resigned from the Viceroy’s Executive Council, saddened by the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre?
Chettur Sankaran Nair
Ishwari Prasad
Muhammad Shafi
Iqbal Narain Gurtu
Select the correct answer from the code given below:
Code:
2 and 3
Only 4
3 and 4
Only 1
Correct Answer: D
Detailed Solution
Chettur Sankaran Nair was the person who resigned from the Viceroy’s Executive Council after the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair was a distinguished jurist, lawyer and public leader. He had also served as President of the Indian National Congress in 1897 and later held high positions in the British Indian administration.
In 1915, he became a member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. He held responsibilities relating to education and was among the prominent Indian members of the highest executive body of the colonial government at that time.
The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre occurred on 13 April 1919. Nair was deeply dissatisfied with the repressive policies and the continuance of Martial Law in Punjab after the massacre. Against this background, he resigned his membership of the Viceroy’s Executive Council in 1919.
A detailed historical chronology associates his resignation in July 1919 with his protest against the prolonged continuation of Martial Law in Punjab. Thus, his resignation represented a clear political and moral protest against Jallianwala Bagh and the subsequent British repression in Punjab.
It is useful to distinguish this from another famous protest—Rabindranath Tagore renounced his Knighthood, whereas Sankaran Nair resigned from the Viceroy's Executive Council.