RAS question
Subhas Chandra Bose defeated whom in the Congress presidential election of 1939?
Correct answer: (D) Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
Subhas Chandra Bose defeated Dr Pattabhi Sitaramayya in the 1939 Congress presidential election.
Explanation
At the Tripuri session in 1939, Subhas Chandra Bose contested the Congress presidential election against Dr Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Gandhi's preferred candidate. After the result, Gandhi wrote that Bose had achieved a decisive victory over Dr Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Gandhi also acknowledged that he had opposed Bose's re-election and had asked Pattabhi not to withdraw. He therefore regarded the result as his own defeat rather than Pattabhi's. This is the context in which RAS questions often use the line, "Pattabhi's defeat is my defeat."
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Rajendra Prasad was not Bose's opponent in the 1939 Congress presidential election; Bose contested against Dr Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
- (B) Jawaharlal Nehru was not Bose's opponent in this election; Bose contested against Dr Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
- (C) Sardar Patel was not Bose's opponent in this election; Bose contested against Dr Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
Concept
This question tests the internal politics of the Indian National Congress in the late 1930s, especially the Bose-Gandhi divide around the 1939 Tripuri session. It matters for RAS because this election links a specific fact with the broader questions of leadership, ideology and Congress organisation before the Second World War.