UPSC Prelims 2016 Question:

What was the main reason for the split in the Indian National Congress at Surat in 1907?

Explanation:

• • The primary reason for the split in the Indian National Congress in 1907 was the lack of faith of Extremists in the ability of the Moderates to negotiate with the British Government. Moderates believed negotiations through deliberations. But the extremists believed in agitation, strikes, and boycotts. The Extremists wanted to extend the Swadeshi and the Boycott Movement from Bengal to the rest of the country. They also wanted to gradually extend the boycott from foreign goods to every form of association or cooperation with the colonial Government. In stark contrast, the Moderates wanted to confine the boycott part of the movement to Bengal and were totally opposed to its extension to the Government. 
    
    

• Aurobindo Ghosh’s inability to be elected as the President of the Indian National Congress was not the reason behind the split.
  
  

• The Morley Minto reforms of 1909 introduced a system of communal representation for Muslims by accepting the concept of separate electorate.
  
  

• The Muslim League was founded in 1906 and the Surat Split happened in 1907.
  
  

Therefore, option (2) is the correct answer.

Subject: History | Indian National Movement