During the Non-Cooperation Movement thousands of Indians were put in jail. The judge who presided over his trial, Justice C.N. Broomfield, made a remarkable speech while pronouncing his sentence. Meanwhile, he spent part of each day working on the charkha (spinning wheel), and encouraged other nationalists to do likewise. The act of spinning allowed Gandhiji to break the boundaries that prevailed within the traditional caste system, between mental labour and manual labour.
A line on what Gandhiji saw the charkha as a symbol of is left out of the passage. What does that line say?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → A human society that would not glorify machines and technology
Option (1) A human society that would not glorify machines and technology — Correct. Gandhiji was critical of an age in which machines enslaved humans, so he saw the charkha as a symbol of a human society that would not glorify machines and technology.
Option (2) An industrial India whose mills could match the output of Lancashire — Incorrect. Gandhiji objected to the craze for machinery; mills matching Lancashire go against his idea of the charkha.
Option (3) The unity of Hindus and Muslims against colonial rule — Incorrect. Hindu-Muslim unity was the aim behind joining non-cooperation with the Khilafat Movement in 1919-1920.
Option (4) The revival of the village panchayat as the unit of rule — Incorrect. The village panchayat belongs to Gandhiji's ideas on village self-rule, a separate theme from the spinning wheel.
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