question_answer

Read the following paragraph carefully and answer the questions that follow:

'British element is gone but they have left the mis-chief behind'

Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel said:

It is no use saying that we ask for separate electorates, because it is good for us. We have heard it long enough. We have heard it for years, and as a result of this agitation we are now a separate nation ... Can you show me one free country where there are separate electorates? If so, I shall be prepared to accept it. But in this unfortunate country if this separate electorate is going to be persisted in, even after the division of the country, woe betide the country; it is not worth living m. Therefore, I say, it is not for my good alone it is for your own good that I say it, forget the past. One day? we may be united ... The British element is gone, but they have left the mischief behind. We do not want to perpetuate that mischief (Hear. hear). When the British introduced this element they had not expected that they will have to go so soon. They wanted it for their easy administration. That is all right. But they have left the legacy behind. Are we to get out of it or not?

CAD, VOL.V

(i) Why are separate electorates considered as a mischief?

(ii) State the arguments given by Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel for building political unity and forging a nation.

(iii) How did the philosophy of separate electorates result in a separate nation?

 

Answer:

(i) Separate electorate was considered as a mischief

1. It was like a poison that had entered into politics.

2. The demand had turned one community against another.

3. It caused bloodshed, civil war riots.

4. It divided the nation.

(ii) Building political unity and forging a nation

1. He considered separate electorate as a poison.

2. For the goodness of the country it should not be followed.

3. It was necessary for maintenance of peace that this system is not followed.

4. In order to build a strong nation every individual must be moulded as a citizen and assimilated within the nation.

5. For political unity assimilation is a must but not separatist feelings.

(iii) Philosophy of Separate electorate

1. It turned one community against another and caused lot of bloodshed.

2. Separatist feelings were cultivated by the British for their selfish ends.

3. Communal hatred led to the tragic partition.

4. It led to the isolation of minorities and eventual partition.