Political Science · Political Institutions in India
UGC NET Dec 2015 Political Science
Who presided over the All-Party Conference (1928)?
AMotilal Nehru
BDr M.A. Ansari ✓ Correct
CMadan Mohan Malviya
DCR Das
Correct answer: (B) Dr M.A. Ansari — The All Party Conference of 1928 was presided over by Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, which is option (2).
Explanation
★The All Party Conference of 1928 was presided over by Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, which is option (2).
★The conference was convened in response to the British challenge that Indians could not themselves agree on a constitution.
★That challenge came from the Secretary of State Lord Birkenhead, who taunted Indian leaders to produce an agreed constitutional scheme.
★The conference brought together representatives of many political parties and communities to frame a unified Indian demand.
★It appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Motilal Nehru to draft the principles of a future constitution.
★This committee produced the Nehru Report, presented on 10 August 1928, the first major Indian authored blueprint for a constitution.
★The Nehru Report demanded Dominion Status for India, not complete independence, marking it as a moderate constitutional step.
★It recommended a federal structure, a bill of fundamental rights, and responsible government, and it rejected separate electorates in favour of joint electorates with reserved seats.
★The report's stand against separate electorates drew opposition from sections of the Muslim League, leading to Jinnah's Fourteen Points in 1929.
★Dr Ansari was a prominent nationalist physician and a Congress leader who had served as Congress president in 1927.
★The option Motilal Nehru is wrong here, since he chaired the drafting committee and gave the report its name but did not preside over the conference itself.
★The option Madan Mohan Malviya is wrong, since he was a senior Congress leader, educationist and founder of Banaras Hindu University, but not the president of this conference.
★The option C.R. Das is wrong, since Chittaranjan Das had co founded the Swaraj Party in 1923 and died in 1925, so he could not have presided in 1928.
★The episode is a milestone in constitutional history that the framers later drew upon, especially the idea of an Indian drafted fundamental rights charter.
★For NET, tie the cluster: Lord Birkenhead's challenge, the All Party Conference under Ansari in 1928, the Nehru Report by Motilal Nehru seeking Dominion Status, and Jinnah's Fourteen Points of 1929 in reply.
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