RAS question
Who renounced their knighthood title in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919)?
Correct answer: (A) Rabindranath Tagore.
Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood on 30 May 1919 in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Explanation
Rabindranath Tagore's renunciation was a moral protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The massacre took place on 13 April 1919, and Tagore surrendered his knighthood on 30 May 1919, before the Non-Cooperation Movement began in August 1920. The PIB account explains why the event became so politically charged: General Dyer's troops entered Jallianwala Bagh, blocked the main entrance, fired without warning for about ten minutes, and the later Hunter Committee condemned Dyer's actions without imposing penal or disciplinary action. Against that background, Tagore's letter to the Viceroy expressed anguish over the treatment of Indians, making option A the only supported answer.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Tej Bahadur Sapru was not the protest figure; the renunciation linked to Jallianwala Bagh was Rabindranath Tagore's surrender of knighthood.
- (C) Surendranath Banerjee does not fit this record; Rabindranath Tagore was the person who renounced knighthood after Jallianwala Bagh.
- (D) Pherozeshah Mehta is not the figure linked to this protest; Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Tourism names Tagore as renouncing knighthood and separately mentions Gandhi giving up Kaiser-i-Hind.
Concept
This tests the nationalist response to the Rowlatt-Jallianwala Bagh moment and its chronology before the Non-Cooperation Movement. RAS repeatedly asks such questions because they connect events, protest methods and symbolic acts in modern Indian history.