Q. What forced Rabindranath Tagore to give up his knighthood?
(a) Incident of Chauri Chaura
(b) Suppression of Civil Disobedience Movement
(c) Execution of Bhagat Singh’s execution
(d) The tragedy of Jallianawalla Bagh
Ans: (d) The tragedy of Jallianawalla Bagh
Explanation: The correct answer is (d) The tragedy of Jallianawala Bagh.
Rabindranath Tagore, a renowned poet, writer, and philosopher, renounced his knighthood in protest against the tragic incident of Jallianwala Bagh in 1919. The incident took place in Amritsar, Punjab, where a peaceful gathering of Indians was fired upon by British troops under the command of General Reginald Dyer. Hundreds of innocent people were killed and thousands were injured in the indiscriminate firing.
Tagore was deeply moved and outraged by the brutality of the massacre, which he considered a gross violation of human rights and an assault on the principles of justice and humanity. In response to this horrific event, Tagore wrote an open letter to Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy of India at that time, expressing his strong condemnation of the massacre and renouncing the knighthood that had been bestowed upon him.
This act of renunciation by Tagore was a powerful statement of protest against the British colonial rule and its oppressive actions. It symbolized his solidarity with the Indian people and his refusal to accept honors from a government that allowed such atrocities to occur.
Therefore, the tragedy of Jallianawala Bagh was the event that forced Rabindranath Tagore to give up his knighthood.