Who was the ruler of Awadh in 1856?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Nawab Wajid Ali Shah
When the British annexed Awadh in 1856, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was its ruler; he was dethroned and exiled to Calcutta on the plea that the region was being misgoverned.
NCERT (2026-27): “2. Awadh in Revolt … By the early 1850s, moreover, all the major areas of India had been conquered: the Maratha lands, the Doab, the Carnatic, the Punjab and Bengal. The takeover of Awadh in 1856 was expected to complete a process of territorial annexation that had begun with the conquest of Bengal almost a century earlier.… 2.2 ‘The life was gone out of the body’ … Lord Dalhousie’s annexations created disaffection in all the areas and principalities that were annexed but nowhere more so than in the kingdom of Awadh in the heart of North India. Here, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was dethroned and exiled to Calcutta on the plea that the region was being misgoverned. The British government also wrongly assumed that Wajid Ali Shah was an unpopular ruler.…” |