Question

Who among the following is NOT a nationalist extremist leader of the Indian National Congress?
1. Bal Gangadhar Tilak
2. Bipin Chandra Pal
3. Surendra Nath Banerjee
4. Sri Aurobindo Ghosh

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 3 : Surendra Nath Banerjee

The correct answer is Surendra Nath Banerjee.

• The Congress split into two parts - Moderates and Extremists in the year 1907 at the Surat Session of Congress, which was also popularly known as 'Surat Split'.
• Extremists are not satisfied with the methods and achievements of moderates.
• They were three groups of extremists. They are the Maharashtrian group led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the Bengal group led by Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh, and the Punjab group led by Lala Lajpat Rai.
• The most prominent leaders of the Extremists were Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, and Bipin Chandra Pal, who are known collectively as the Lal-Bal-Pal trio.

• Surendra Nath Banerjee 
  • He was among the earliest political leaders during British rule.
  • He was the moderate leader of the Indian National Congress. Hence, Option 3 is correct.
  • Also called ‘Rashtraguru’ and ‘Indian Burke’.
  • Founded newspaper ‘The Bengalee’.
  • He founded the Indian National Association, a Nationalist organization through which he led two sessions of the Indian National Congress in 1883 and 1885.
  • Later on, he became the senior member of the Indian National Congress and was among the founding members of it.
  • He was the second Indian to qualify Indian civil service examination in 1869 but was removed from it claiming that he has misrepresented his age.
  • He again cleared the examination in 1871 and got posted as an Assistant Magistrate in Sylhet, but he was soon dismissed due to a serious judicial error.

• Bipin Chandra Pal
  • Bipin Chandra Pal was one of the most prominent leaders of the Extremists.
  • The Bengal group of extremists led by Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh.
  • He was awarded the title 'Mightiest Prophets of Nationalism’ by Aurobindo Ghosh.
  • He supported the Swadeshi Movement.
  • He started the newspaper Swaraj, Paridaashak, Public Opinion and Tribune, Hindu Review, Independent, Democrat.
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak 
  • He was an Indian nationalist and an independence activist mentioned as the first leader of the Indian Independence Movement The British colonial authorities called him “The father of the Indian unrest.”
  • He was also conferred with the title of “Lokmanya“, which means “accepted by the people (as their leader)”. Mahatma Gandhi called him “The Maker of Modern India“. Tilak was one of the first and strongest advocates of Swaraj.
  • He is known for his quote in Marathi: “Swarajya is my birthright and I shall have it!”.
  • He formed a close alliance with many Indian National Congress leaders including Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Aurobindo Ghose, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
  • He started the Deccan Educational Society with college batchmates, Vishnu Shastry Chiplunkar and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar to inspire nationalist education among Indian students.
  • Parallel to his teaching activities, Tilak founded two newspapers ‘Kesari’ in Marathi and ‘Mahratta’ in English.
• Sri Aurobindo
  • He was one of the first Indians educated in England.
  • He was a poet, thinker, freedom fighter, yogi, and spiritual leader. He was born on 15 August 1872 in Kolkata, West Bengal. 
  • He propounded a philosophy of divine life on earth and founded an ashram in Puducherry.
  • His epic poem Savitri is one of his greatest works him.
  • His participation in the Indian freedom struggle against the British gave him popularity and gradually evolved to become a spiritual and yogic guru.
  • He came up with a new path of spirituality known as 'integral yoga'.
  • The main objective of his teachings was to increase the level of consciousness of people and to be aware people of their true selves.
  • He had written several books focused on Indian culture, socio-political development of the country, spirituality, etc.