Who among the following was NOT associated with the Kanpur Conspiracy Case of 1924 ?

The correct answer is D) M.A. Ansari. The Kanpur Conspiracy Case of 1924 was a colonial prosecution of early communists for allegedly plotting to spread communism and wage war against the King. The accused included S.A. Dange, Shaukat Usmani, Muzaffar Ahmed, Nalini Gupta and Singaravelu Chettiar. Dr. M.A. Ansari was a senior Congress and Khilafat leader who was never an accused in this case. He presided over the Congress session at Madras in 1927.

Core concept: the case is an early milestone in the history of the Communist movement in India and shows how the colonial state used conspiracy trials against political dissent. For Mains GS-1, it links to the early communist movement and the nationalist-left divide of the 1920s.

• A, B and C were all tried in the case: Muzaffar Ahmed, Nalini Gupta and Shaukat Usmani were among those charged.
• D is the outlier, because Ansari's politics ran through the Congress and the Khilafat movement, not the communist groups being prosecuted.

Trap: candidates pick the name they recognise as a prominent nationalist and assume he was involved. Match the names to the communist groups instead.