Q. The name of the famous person of India who returned the Knighthood conferred on him by the British Government as a token of protest against the atrocities in Punjab in 1919 was:
(a) Tej Bahadur Sapru
(b) Ashutosh Mukherjee
(c) Rabindra Nath Tagore
(d) Syed Ahmad Khan
Ans: (c) Rabindra Nath Tagore
The correct answer is (c) Rabindra Nath Tagore.
Explanation:
Rabindra Nath Tagore, the famous Indian poet, writer, and philosopher, returned the Knighthood conferred on him by the British Government as a token of protest against the atrocities in Punjab in 1919. This act of renunciation was in response to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that took place on April 13, 1919, in Amritsar, Punjab. The British Indian Army, under the command of Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, fired on a peaceful gathering of Indian protesters, resulting in hundreds of casualties.
Rabindra Nath Tagore, a staunch advocate for Indian independence and a vocal critic of British colonial rule, saw the massacre as a brutal and unjustifiable act. In protest against this horrific incident and the British government’s handling of it, he renounced his Knighthood, which he had received in 1915.
The other options mentioned are notable personalities from Indian history, but they did not return their Knighthood in protest against the atrocities in Punjab in 1919. Tej Bahadur Sapru was a prominent lawyer and politician, Ashutosh Mukherjee was a renowned jurist and educator, and Syed Ahmad Khan was a philosopher and educationist. However, they were not associated with the act of returning Knighthood in response to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
