Previous Year Question
Who among the following had started Indian Home Rule Society in London?
Annie Besant
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Shyamji Krishna Varma
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Correct Answer: C
Detailed Solution
Shyamji Krishna Varma founded the Indian Home Rule Society in London on 18 February 1905. Its objective was to secure Home Rule or self-government for India and organise support for the Indian national movement abroad.
In 1905, Shyamji Krishna Varma also established India House in London. It became an important centre for Indian students and nationalist youth living in Britain.
He also started the journal The Indian Sociologist, through which criticism of British rule and ideas of Indian self-government were propagated.
India House later emerged as an important centre of Indian revolutionary activity, and young nationalists such as V. D. Savarkar became associated with it.
It should be noted that Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak established separate Home Rule Leagues in India in 1916, whereas the Indian Home Rule Society, London (1905) asked in the question was associated with Shyamji Krishna Varma.
Therefore, the correct answer is Shyamji Krishna Varma.