RAS question
The Direct Action Day called by the Muslim League on 16 August 1946 resulted in which tragic event?
Correct answer: (C) The Great Calcutta Killings.
Direct Action Day, called by the All-India Muslim League on 16 August 1946, resulted in the Great Calcutta Killings.
Explanation
After the Cabinet Mission Plan broke down, Mohammed Ali Jinnah and the All-India Muslim League called 16 August 1946 as Direct Action Day to press the demand for Pakistan. Britannica describes it as a day of general strike and mass protests that soon spiralled into widespread communal riots, especially in Calcutta. The violence lasted several days, caused thousands of deaths, and took place while H. S. Suhrawardy was Bengal Premier. Britannica also notes that the carnage came to be termed the "Great Calcutta Killing" and that it fed later violence in regions such as Noakhali and Bihar. That is why the event linked to Direct Action Day is not a movement or partition measure, but the Great Calcutta Killings.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The Quit India Movement belongs to 1942, whereas Direct Action Day took place on 16 August 1946 and led to communal violence in Calcutta.
- (B) Partition of Bengal was a later 1947 outcome, not the immediate tragic event produced by the 16 August 1946 call.
- (D) The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre occurred in 1919, decades before the Muslim League's Direct Action Day.
Concept
This tests the late-colonial sequence from the Cabinet Mission breakdown to communal violence before Partition. RAS repeats this area because dates, organisations, and consequences are easily confused in modern Indian history.