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Question 101 of 137 · Gandhian Era & Struggle for Independence
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Who is remembered as one of the strongest advocates of Hindi as the official language of India, and was honoured with the title 'Rajarshi'?

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Answer: Option B — Purushottam Das Tandon

Detailed Solution

Purushottam Das Tandon, the freedom fighter and Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh, is remembered as one of the strongest advocates of Hindi as the official language of India; he was given the title "Rajarshi".

About Purushottam Das Tandon:

  • He was born on 1 August 1882 at Allahabad.
  • He was a lawyer, but gave up his practice to join the freedom struggle in 1921.
  • He took part in the Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience and Quit India movements, and was imprisoned several times.
  • He was the Speaker of the United Provinces Legislative Assembly (1937-1950).
  • He was a member of the Constituent Assembly.

He was elected President of the Indian National Congress in 1950 (Nashik session), defeating J. B. Kripalani, but resigned in 1951 because of differences with Jawaharlal Nehru.

He was elected to the Lok Sabha (1952) and the Rajya Sabha (1956).

His work for Hindi:

  • He was one of the founders and leaders of the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan.
  • In the Constituent Assembly, he strongly supported Hindi in the Devanagari script as the official language, and the use of Indian numerals.
  • The Constitution finally adopted Hindi in the Devanagari script as the official language of the Union, with English continuing for official purposes for a fixed period.

Why "Rajarshi":

  • He was given the title "Rajarshi" (a royal sage) because of his simple, saintly life and his devotion to public service.
  • The title was conferred on him at a public function in 1948.

Honours:

  • He was awarded the Bharat Ratna.
  • The Uttar Pradesh Rajarshi Tandon Open University at Allahabad is named after him.

Other supporters of Hindi:

  • Seth Govind Das and Ravi Shankar Shukla were also strong supporters of Hindi in the Constituent Assembly.
  • The Munshi-Ayyangar formula was the compromise reached on the language question.

Why not the other options?

  • ✗Rajendra Prasad, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Seth Govind Das supported Hindi, but "Rajarshi" was the title of Tandon.

Quick tip

Remember: "Rajarshi" Purushottam Das Tandon = champion of Hindi as the official language; Congress President (Nashik, 1950); Hindi Sahitya Sammelan.

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Gandhian Era & Struggle for Independence — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Gandhian Era & Struggle for Independence, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers the freedom struggle from Gandhi's return to India in 1915 to independence in 1947: the Champaran, Kheda and Ahmedabad movements, the Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh, the Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience and Quit India movements, the Round Table Conferences, the Cripps Mission, the Cabinet Mission and the partition of India. Most questions ask about the year, cause or result of a movement, or the event that ended it. For example, the Chauri Chaura incident (1922) led Gandhi to call off the Non-Cooperation Movement, and the Dandi March (1930) started the Civil Disobedience Movement. Learning these events on a timeline is the best way to avoid confusion. Practise the Gandhian era questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

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