RAS question
The Aligarh Movement was started by:
Correct answer: (C) Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.
The Aligarh Movement was started by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan to promote modern education among Indian Muslims.
Explanation
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan is the answer because the Aligarh Movement centred on modern education for Indian Muslims, especially in the period after 1857. Its institutional path began when he founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental School at Aligarh in 1875; it became the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1877 and later Aligarh Muslim University in 1920. Aligarh Muslim University also links Sir Syed with efforts to persuade Muslims to adopt modern education and says the Aligarh Gazette helped strengthen the Aligarh Movement's intellectual foundations. So the movement is not identified by a later political leader, but by Sir Syed's educational reform programme at Aligarh.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a later political leader, whereas the Aligarh Movement belongs to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's nineteenth-century educational reform work at Aligarh.
- (B) Liaquat Ali Khan was a later political figure, not the founder of the Aligarh educational movement described in the question.
- (D) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was not associated with starting the Aligarh Movement, which is tied to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and the MAO institution at Aligarh.
Concept
This tests the social and educational reform movements of modern India, especially Muslim educational reform after 1857. RAS often asks such questions because reform movements connect personalities, institutions and the rise of modern political consciousness.