Indian Politics Quiz 2024

An Indian politics quiz to celebrate the ongoing election season. I will post the answers to this Indian politics quiz on 4 June 2024, when the election results are due.

Continued …

Cabinet Ministers

1. Who had the longest uninterrupted tenure as a Cabinet Minister?

2. Who was the longest-serving Minister for External Affairs (earlier designated as Foreign Minister)?

3. Who was the first Finance Minister of India whose tenure did not end in a resignation?

4. Sixth June, 1966, or 6/6/66, was a red letter day in India’s post-independence economic history. The rupee was devalued by 36.5% increasing the value of the US dollar by 57.56%. Who was the finance minister then?

5. Ministers in charge of four key portfolios—Home, Defence, Finance, and External Affairs—are members of India’s National Security Council. There have been a few ministers, including Prime Ministers, who were in regular charge of up to three of these ministries. Barring Prime Ministers who held interim charge of some of these ministries, only one person was in charge of all the four ministries at different points in his/her career. Who was this?

Constituencies

6. Phulpur was Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s constituency. After his death, who succeeded him as the Member of Parliament from that constituency?

7. In her electoral debut, Sonia Gandhi contested from Bellary in Karnataka and Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, winning both. Who did she defeat in Bellary?

8. Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru/Gandhi family, is contesting the elections from Rae Bareli, apart from Wayanad in Kerala. Rae Bareli has a long association with the family. Which Member of Parliament represented Rae Bareli in 1952?

9. Why is the assembly constituency of Paravur in Kerala significant in Indian electoral history?

10. My research shows that only one person represented three out of the four different parts of the country in the Lok Sabha: North, East (including North East), West, or South. Who was that person? I will be happy to stand corrected if there are others including those who won from all four parts of the country.

People

11. What is the significance of Dr AK Patel and CJ Reddy in Indian politics?

13. Which former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India was a candidate for the position of President of India? Which party did he represent?

14. In 2008, the Parliament of India instituted an annual lecture in memory of one of India’s most distinguished parliamentarians. Who was this?

12. Gaya Lal will be remembered forever in Indian politics. Why?

15. Who was Shyam Saran Negi?

16. Which parliamentarian, fighting elections in a state other than his home state, defeated one of the new state’s tallest leaders, earned the epithet “giant killer”?

17. An Indian politics quiz is not complete without a question on who served the longest. So, who was elected to the Lok Sabha for the maximum number of times?

18. Who was elected to the Lok Sabha from the same constituency the maximum number of times? The answer is obviously different from that of the previous question.

19. Who served the longest as a member of the Rajya Sabha?

20. Who has been the Chief Minister of an Indian State for the longest period?

The Opposition

21. Who headed the largest opposition party after the first general elections held in 1952?

22. Who was the first Leader of the Opposition?

23. Who was the first non-Congress Chief Minister of an Indian State?

24. Among the Presidents of the Indian National Congress since Independence, only three never held any ministerial positions at the Centre or the States, nor was a State Governor. Two of them, as is well-known, are Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Who was the third?

25. One of the original founders of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, he became the president of his party in the late 1960s taking it to its highest tally of 35 seats in the Lok Sabha. But, he would soon be expelled in the 1970s due to ideological differences. Barring a year or two in the late 70s, when he was with the Janata Party, he was always in the Opposition and remained a bitter critic of the Bharatiya Janata Party. A prolific author of around three dozen books, many on Kashmir (he was from Jammu/Gilgit Baltistan), he died in 2016 at the age of 96, relatively unknown. Who was this?

Prime Ministers

26. Ranchhodji was the middle name of which Prime Minister?

27. Which Prime Minister lived the longest?

28. Who was the only Prime Minister to have been a former Indian Ambassador?

29. As is well known, Narendra Modi was Gujarat’s Chief Minister before becoming Prime Minister. Five other Prime Ministers were also the Chief Ministers of their States before becoming PMs. Who were they and what sets Modi apart as compared to them?

30. Which country has Jawaharlal Nehru travelled the most to, other than the US and UK, where travels were also for non-bilateral engagements?

Biography/Autobiography/Memoir

31. A biography on which former Prime Minister is subtitled, “A Life in the Service of the People”?

32. Jawaharlal Nehru’s Autobiography was first published in 1936 when he was just 47. What was its subtitle?

33. Apart from Jawaharlal Nehru, who were the only other Prime Ministers to write their autobiography/memoir?

34. Which former Prime Minister’s biographies carry the subtitles “Churn of Conscience” and “A Life of Truth in Politics”?

35. Which former minister and legal luminary titled his autobiography “Roses in December”?

36. Which former Parliamentarian, known for his quick-witted humour, wrote a biography of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, titled “Zulfi, My Friend”?

Places and Monuments

37. Jawaharlal Nehru lived in Teen Murti House as Prime Minister. What was it earlier known as, and who was its resident before independence?

38. In 2022, a Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose statue was erected at the India Gate in New Delhi. Whose statue held the space under the canopy earlier, and when was it removed?

39. What is the importance of Tashigang in electoral politics?

Election symbols

40. As is well known, the lotus is the election symbol of the Bhartiya Janata Party. What was the symbol of its predecessor, the Bhartiya Jan Sangh?

41. Under which election symbol did the candidates of the Indian National Congress contest the first three general elections?

42. The Bahujan Samaj Party has the elephant as an election symbol. Which other party also has the elephant as an election symbol?

43. Which political party has a torch as its election symbol?

Who am I?

44. I was related to the royal family of my state. I did my MA and LLB from one of India’s top universities. As a freedom fighter and as an opposition leader after independence, I went to jail nearly sixty times, including for three years during the Quit India Movement, as a president of the Students Congress. I have been in several political parties, some more than once. I was the leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly. Later, I was in the Rajya Sabha for two tenures. I contested for the Lok Sabha four times and lost thrice. But history will remember one of my three losses as much as my lone victory against a political giant. Though poorly maintained, a park in my city bears my name.

Name me.

Who was he?

45. In the early 1990s, in a rundown locality of a city, the landlord of a one-room accommodation threw out his tenant for nonpayment of rent for several months. Also thrown out were the tenant’s worldly belongings: a cot, a bucket, and a few aluminium utensils. The old man sought time to clear the arrears. A few neighbours pleaded with the unrelenting landlord on behalf of the poor tenant. On seeing the commotion, a journalist passing by took a few photographs and wrote an article about the incident. On seeing the pictures, his editor recognised the old man as a well-known former politician. Who was he?

This Indian politics quiz 2024 was compiled by G Sreekumar ©