Previous Year Question
Given below are two statements labelled as:
Assertion (A): The Congress boycotted the Simon Commission.
Reason (R): The Simon Commission did not have a single Indian member.
In the context of the above, which one of the following is correct?
Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)
(A) is true but (R) is false
(A) is false but (R) is true
Correct Answer: A
Detailed Solution
Both Assertion (A) and Reason (R) are true, and (R) correctly explains (A).
The British Government appointed the Indian Statutory Commission, popularly known as the Simon Commission, in 1927. It was headed by Sir John Simon.
The most important criticism of the Commission was that not a single Indian was included among its members. This led to widespread opposition among Indian political organisations.
The Indian National Congress formally decided to boycott the Commission. In January 1928, Congress instructed its organisations and members not to cooperate with the Commission and to make the boycott effective.
The Simon Commission arrived in India on 3 February 1928, and demonstrations and the slogan “Simon Go Back” accompanied opposition to it in different parts of the country.