Name the Principal of M.A.O. College, Aligarh, who encouraged Muslim Communalism in the last decades of the 19th Century?

Question

Name the Principal of M.A.O. College, Aligarh, who encouraged Muslim Communalism in the last decades of the 19th Century?

1. A. Dunlop Smith
2. B. Minto
3. C. William Morris
4. D. Theodore Beck (Correct answer)

Correct Answer

Option D — Theodore Beck

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is Theodore Beck.

Key Points

• Theodore Beck was the Principal of the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College, Aligarh, from 1883 to 1899, and he actively encouraged Muslim separatism and communal politics in the closing decades of the 19th century.
• The MAO College was founded by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in 1875 at Aligarh as part of the Aligarh Movement, which sought to promote modern Western education among Indian Muslims.
• The college later became Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in 1920.
• Under Beck's influence, the institution was steered away from the Indian National Congress, and he helped organise the United Indian Patriotic Association (1888) and the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental Defence Association to counter Congress influence — developments that fed into the British policy of divide and rule and eventually the formation of the Muslim League in 1906 at Dhaka.

Exam Tip

• link the Aligarh Movement, MAO College and the Muslim League as a single causal chain.

प्रश्न (हिन्दी में)

एम. ए. ओ. कॉलेज, अलिगढ़ के प्रधानाचार्य का नाम बताईये जिसने 19 वीं सदी के अन्तिम दशकों में मुस्लिम साम्प्रादायिकतावाद को बढ़ावा दिया था?

1. A. डनलप स्मिथ
2. B. मिन्टो
3. C. विलियम मौरिस
4. D. थियोडोर बैक