UPSC IAS - 2021

In the context of Colonial India, Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sehgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon are remembered as ​

Year Asked: 2021

A
Leaders of Swadeshi and Boycott Movement​
B
Members of the Interim Government in 1946​
C
Members of the Drafting Committee in the Constituent Assembly ​
D
Officers of the Indian National Army

Correct Answer

D. Officers of the Indian National Army

Detailed Explanation

The three names belong to the Red Fort trials of 1945-46, where the British court-martialled officers of the Indian National Army (INA) raised by Subhas Chandra Bose. Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sehgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon were the accused in the first of these trials. Their prosecution triggered nationwide protests and shaped the post-war mood that hastened independence. So option D is correct.

Why the others fail:

  • A: The Swadeshi and Boycott Movement (1905, against the Partition of Bengal) was led by leaders such as Surendranath Banerjee, Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai, not these officers.
  • B: The Interim Government formed in September 1946 under Nehru had Congress and League nominees. These three were not members.
  • C: The Drafting Committee, chaired by B.R. Ambedkar, was set up in August 1947 and had no INA officers.

Core concept: the INA and its role in the freedom struggle, along with the erosion of British confidence in Indian military loyalty after the trials and the 1946 RIN mutiny. For Mains, this fits GS-1 modern history on the role of armed and military movements in the national struggle.

Trap: Candidates who remember the Interim Government's 1946 timeline may pick B, because the trials and the interim government fall in the same year. The question asks about the people, not the year.

This question appeared in UPSC Prelims 2021 GS Paper-1.

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