UPSC Prelims 2018 · Question 11 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2018 question on Lala Lajpat Rai
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2018
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectModern History
- TopicIndian National Movement
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeDirect
He wrote biographies of Mazzini, Garibaldi, Shivaji and Shrikrishna; stayed in America for some time; and was also elected to the Central Assembly. He was
Show answer
Answer: C. Lala Lajpat Rai
Analysis
The description fits Lala Lajpat Rai, so the answer is (c).
Lajpat Rai was a prolific writer whose works included Unhappy India, Young India: An Interpretation, History of Arya Samaj and England's Debt to India. His biographies of Mazzini, Garibaldi and Shivaji were published in 1896, and those of Dayanand and Shri Krishna in 1898. He chose Mazzini and Garibaldi deliberately, to infuse patriotic feeling among Punjabi youth who had no access to books in English, having seen parallels between India's situation and Italy's.
He travelled to the United States in 1907 and toured Sikh communities along the West Coast. He joined the Swaraj Party in 1926 and was elected its Deputy Leader in the Central Legislative Assembly.
Source
The PDF cites a Google Books reference for the biographies (random reading), so no standard textbook page can be given for the full description.
How to crack it
The Italian nationalist link is the decisive clue, and it is one of the few personality markers UPSC reuses. Maintain a one line signature for each major leader built from what is distinctive rather than what is famous: for Lajpat Rai it is the Mazzini and Garibaldi biographies plus the American years.