1
The Marathi newspaper "Kesari" was started by:
Correct answer: D. Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Tilak ran Kesari (Marathi) and Mahratta (English) to spread nationalist ideas.
easy
Freedom Movement: Leaders, Newspapers and Organisations MCQs
Solved MCQs on the leaders, newspapers, organisations and Congress sessions of India's freedom movement and social reform era, with short explanations.
20 MCQsUpdated 27 October 2026
This set covers the people and institutions of the national movement: newspapers and their founders, the drain of wealth theory, sessions of the Indian National Congress, peasant satyagrahas and women who led the way.
Learn each leader with their newspaper, organisation or movement. Questions frequently ask who founded or edited what, so these pairings are worth revising often.
- 2
The weekly "Young India" was published by:
Correct answer: B. Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhiji used Young India (and later Harijan) to share his views on non-violence and self-rule.
easy - 3
The Indian Association (1876) was founded by Surendranath Banerjee and:
Correct answer: C. Anand Mohan Bose
The Indian Association of Calcutta was one of the earliest political organisations before the Congress.
hard - 4
The All India Home Rule League was founded in 1916 at Madras by:
Correct answer: A. Annie Besant
Annie Besant founded her league in Madras; Tilak had started a separate Home Rule League in Maharashtra earlier the same year.
Read detailsmedium - 5
The "drain of wealth" theory, explaining how British rule took wealth out of India, was put forward by:
Correct answer: C. Dadabhai Naoroji
Naoroji set it out in "Poverty and Un-British Rule in India"; R. C. Dutt developed it further.
medium - 6
The Satyashodhak Samaj (1873) was founded by:
Correct answer: D. Jyotirao Phule
Jyotirao Phule founded it to fight caste discrimination and spread education among the oppressed.
medium - 7
The Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (1928) is associated with:
Correct answer: A. Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh
The revolutionary group was reorganised in Delhi in 1928 under Chandrashekhar Azad, with Bhagat Singh among its leaders.
Read detailsmedium - 8
Who was popularly called the "Frontier Gandhi"?
Correct answer: B. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan led the non-violent Khudai Khidmatgar movement in the North-West Frontier Province.
easy - 9
The first session of the Indian National Congress (1885) was held at:
Correct answer: C. Bombay
It met at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay; it had first been planned for Poona.
easy - 10
The Congress split into Moderates and Extremists at its 1907 session in:
Correct answer: A. Surat
The Surat Split divided the party until the two groups reunited at Lucknow in 1916.
medium - 11
The Lucknow Pact of 1916 was an agreement between:
Correct answer: B. the Congress and the Muslim League
The Congress and the Muslim League agreed on joint demands for constitutional reform at Lucknow.
easy - 12
The Khilafat Movement was led by:
Correct answer: A. the Ali Brothers
Maulana Mohammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali led it, and Gandhiji joined it with the Non-Cooperation Movement.
easy - 13
The Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928, after which he was called "Sardar", was led by:
Correct answer: C. Vallabhbhai Patel
Vallabhbhai Patel led the farmers of Bardoli (Gujarat) against an increase in land revenue.
easy - 14
The Forward Bloc was formed in 1939 by:
Correct answer: D. Subhas Chandra Bose
Bose formed the Forward Bloc after resigning as Congress President in 1939.
easy - 15
"Saare Jahan Se Achha" was written by:
Correct answer: D. Muhammad Iqbal
Muhammad Iqbal wrote the poem (Tarana-e-Hind) in 1904.
easy - 16
The Moplah (Mappila) rebellion of 1921 took place in:
Correct answer: C. Malabar (Kerala)
The uprising took place in the Malabar region of present-day Kerala.
medium - 17
Who was the first Indian woman to become President of the Indian National Congress?
Correct answer: B. Sarojini Naidu
Sarojini Naidu presided over the 1925 Kanpur session. Annie Besant, the first woman President (1917), was British-born.
medium - 18
Who was known by the title "Deshbandhu"?
Correct answer: B. C. R. Das
Chittaranjan Das was called Deshbandhu (friend of the nation); Lala Lajpat Rai was called Punjab Kesari.
medium - 19
The Ramakrishna Mission was founded in 1897 by:
Correct answer: D. Swami Vivekananda
Vivekananda founded the Mission in honour of his guru, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, to combine spiritual work with social service.
Read detailseasy - 20
The salt march to Vedaranyam in Tamil Nadu (1930) was led by:
Correct answer: A. C. Rajagopalachari
C. Rajagopalachari led the march from Tiruchirappalli to Vedaranyam, the southern counterpart of the Dandi March.
hard