RAS question
At which session did Congress accept the demand for Dominion Status as a compromise before Purna Swaraj?
Correct answer: (D) Calcutta Session, 1928 (Nehru Report).
The Indian National Congress accepted Dominion Status as a compromise at its Calcutta Session in December 1928, when it ratified the Nehru Report before later moving towards Purna Swaraj.
Explanation
The Calcutta Session of 1928 is the key turning point because Congress accepted the Nehru Report, chaired by Motilal Nehru, as the basis for its constitutional demand. The Indian National Congress ratified the Nehru Report at its Calcutta session in December 1928, and the report favoured Dominion Status, not as the final goal, but as the next immediate step in constitutional reforms. Congress then gave an ultimatum that if Dominion Status was not granted by 31 December 1929, it would demand Purna Swaraj. That sequence explains why Calcutta 1928 stands between the Dominion Status compromise and the later Lahore resolution.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Faizpur Session, 1936, is not the answer because the question asks about the pre-Purna Swaraj Dominion Status compromise, while Faizpur was a later session and is remembered here as the first village session.
- (B) Bombay Session, 1934, does not fit because Congress ratified the Nehru Report at Calcutta in December 1928, not Bombay in 1934.
- (C) Madras Session, 1927, was earlier than the Calcutta ratification of the Nehru Report and therefore cannot be the session where Congress accepted that Dominion Status compromise.
Concept
This tests the constitutional phase of the Indian national movement, especially the shift from Dominion Status to Purna Swaraj. RAS repeatedly asks such chronology because a single session often marks a clear change in Congress strategy.