Consider the following pairs : Party | Its Leader 1. Bharatiya Jana Sangh | Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee 2. Socialist Party | C. Rajagopalachari 3. Congress for Democracy | Jagjivan Ram 4. Swatantra Party | Acharya Narendra Dev How many of the above are correctly matched ?
- (a) Only one
- (b) Only two ✓ UPSC's answer
- (c) Only three
- (d) All four
Why the answer is (b)
• Pair 1 is correct: Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951 after leaving Nehru's cabinet.
• Pair 3 is correct: Jagjivan Ram left the Congress in February 1977 to form the Congress for Democracy, which allied with the Janata Party.
• Pair 2 is wrong: the Socialist Party (1948) was led by Jayaprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Dev and Ram Manohar Lohia; Rajagopalachari founded the Swatantra Party in 1959.
• Pair 4 is wrong: the Swatantra Party's founders were C. Rajagopalachari, N.G. Ranga and Minoo Masani, not Acharya Narendra Dev — the two leaders in pairs 2 and 4 have been swapped.
• Hence two pairs, option (b).
Why the other options are wrong
- (a) Only one
- Two pairs (Jana Sangh and Congress for Democracy) are correct, not one.
- (c) Only three
- Pairs 2 and 4 have their leaders swapped, leaving two correct pairs.
- (d) All four
- Pairs 2 and 4 are wrong.
Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2024, held on 16 June 2024. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.