RAS question
The Nagpur Session (1920) reorganized Congress by:
Correct answer: (B) Linguistic provincial committees, reduced membership fee to 4 annas, AICC and CWC created.
The Nagpur Session of the Indian National Congress in 1920 reorganised Congress through linguistic Provincial Congress Committees, a four-anna membership fee, and the creation of the AICC and CWC.
Explanation
At Nagpur in 1920, Congress was not merely changing office-bearers; it was redesigning itself for mass politics. Provincial Congress Committees were reorganised on a linguistic basis, membership was reduced to 4 annas, the AICC and CWC were created, and Swaraj was declared as the goal. ForumIAS identifies Nagpur as the session where linguistic Provincial Congress Committees were recognised and set up, and Congress workers were to reach villages and enrol villagers at a nominal fee of four annas. These measures combined institutional restructuring with mass contact, while armed organisation, a mere presidential change, and merger with the Muslim League were not features of the Nagpur reorganisation.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Creating an armed wing contradicts Congress's Nagpur programme of organisational restructuring and Swaraj through mass politics, not militarisation.
- (C) The Nagpur Session involved comprehensive restructuring through linguistic PCCs, a lower fee, and new Congress bodies, so it was not limited to changing the president.
- (D) In 1920 Congress reorganised its own committees and membership structure at Nagpur; it did not merge with the Muslim League.
Concept
The organisational phase of the national movement shows how Congress shifted from an elite platform to a mass political organisation. Institutional changes such as PCCs, AICC and CWC recur in RAS because they connect modern Indian history with political mobilisation.