Read the passage and answer the questions:
“I think it would be extremely dangerous for them if they were segregated from the rest of the community and kept aloof in an air-tight compartment where they would have to rely on others even for the air they breathe... The minorities if they are returned by separate electorates can never have any effective voice”.
The speaker is critical about:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Separate Electorates
Countering the demand for separate electorates, Pant declared that they were not only harmful for the nation but also for the minorities. The last line of the passage says it plainly: minorities returned by separate electorates can never have any effective voice.
Option (1) Minorities — Incorrect. Pant is not critical of the minorities; he speaks out of concern for them, warning that the system would do them tremendous harm.
Option (2) Joint Electorates — Incorrect. Under joint electorates, voters of all communities vote together. This keeps the minorities part of the whole community, which is what Pant wanted; he criticises its opposite.
Option (4) Majoritarianism — Incorrect. Pant does not attack the majority. He agreed that the majority community had an obligation to understand the problems of minorities and empathise with their aspirations.
NCERT (2026-27): “3.1 The problem with separate electorates … Countering the demand for separate electorates, Govind Ballabh Pant declared that it was not only harmful for the nation but also for the minorities. He agreed with Bahadur that the success of a democracy was to be judged by the confidence it generated amongst different sections of people. He agreed too that every citizen in a free state should be treated in a manner that satisfied ‘not only his material wants but also his spiritual sense of self-respect’, and that the majority community had an obligation to try and understand the problems of minorities, and empathise with their aspirations. Yet Pant opposed the idea of separate electorates. It was a suicidal demand, he argued, that would permanently isolate the minorities, make them vulnerable, and deprive them of any effective say within the government.…”
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