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UPSC Prelims 2026 GS Paper 1, question 16

Topic: Modern history and freedom struggle

Q16

Which of the following factors contributed to the formation of the Forward Bloc by Subhas Chandra Bose in 1939 ?

  1. Bose failed to win the confidence of Mahatma Gandhi.

  2. The Congress Left was disunited and failed to support Bose.

  3. The Communists did not support Bose in his endeavours.

  4. The supporters of M.N. Roy and socialist leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan preferred Congress unity to supporting Bose.

Select the answer using the code given below :

  1. (a) 1, 2 and 3
  2. (b) 1, 2 and 4Correct answer
  3. (c) 1, 3 and 4
  4. (d) 2 and 4 only

Solution.

Answer: (b) 1, 2 and 4

  1. Statement 1 is correct: after Subhas Chandra Bose's re-election at Tripuri in 1939, Mahatma Gandhi declined to endorse his Working Committee, isolating Bose politically.
  2. Statement 2 is correct: the Congress Left was internally fragmented and failed to rally unitedly behind Bose after the Tripuri crisis.
  3. Statement 3 is incorrect: the Communists backed Bose's left-wing candidacy in the 1939 Tripuri presidential election rather than opposing his endeavours altogether.
  4. Statement 4 is correct: both M.N. Roy's supporters and Congress Socialist Party leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan abstained on the Pant Resolution because they prioritized Congress unity under Gandhi over a split.

Trap: If Statement 3 is read as referring specifically to the CPI's refusal to break with the Congress leadership over the post-Tripuri Pant Resolution while treating the Left's stance as a deliberate preference for unity rather than disunity, option (c) 1, 3 and 4 is the competing reading.