Previous Year Question
Along with Mahatma Gandhi who amongst the following Muslims did lift the bier of Bal Gangadhar Tilak?
Shaukat Ali
Mohammad Ali
Maulana A.K. Azad
M.A. Ansari
Correct Answer: A
Detailed Solution
Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak died on 1 August 1920 at Sardar Griha in Bombay. At the time of his death, he was one of the most popular leaders of the Indian national movement.
A massive crowd participated in his funeral procession. The gathering was so large that special permission was obtained for his cremation on the Chowpatty sands in Bombay.
Among those who shouldered Tilak's bier were Mahatma Gandhi and Maulana Shaukat Ali. Jawaharlal Nehru later recalled the occasion and stated that he remembered Gandhi lifting the bier and Shaukat Ali following him in carrying it.
Shaukat Ali was one of the principal leaders of the Khilafat Movement and, together with his brother Mohammad Ali Jauhar, was popularly associated with the Ali Brothers.
The episode also symbolised the contemporary phase of Hindu-Muslim political cooperation, when the politics of the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements were drawing closer together.
Significantly, 1 August 1920, the day Tilak died, also marked the opening phase of the Non-Cooperation Movement under Gandhi's leadership.
Therefore, the Muslim leader who lifted Tilak's bier along with Gandhi was Shaukat Ali.