Read the passage and answer the questions:
“The British element is gone, but they have left the mischief behind”
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 in. 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?
According to the speaker, what was the consequence of the policy of a separate electorates?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → The partition of India
The speaker says that ‘as a result of this agitation we are now a separate nation’, that is, the demand for separate electorates ended in the division of the country. Patel held that this demand had turned one community against another, divided the nation and led to the tragic partition of the country.
Option (1) Free and fair election — Incorrect. The speaker sees separate electorates as a divisive mischief, not as a way to fair elections.
Option (2) Increase in nationalism in India — Incorrect. Separate electorates divided the people by community; they did not build a common national feeling.
Option (3) Freedom for India — Incorrect. Freedom came through the national movement; the speaker links separate electorates to division, not to freedom.
Option (4) The partition of India — Correct. This is the ‘separate nation’ the speaker refers to.
NCERT (2026-27): “3.1 The problem with separate electorates … Partition had made nationalists fervently opposed to the idea of separate electorates. They were haunted by the fear of continued civil war, riots and violence. Separate electorates was a ‘poison that has entered the body politic of our country’, declared Sardar Patel. It was a demand that had turned one community against another, divided the nation, caused bloodshed, and led to the tragic partition of the country. ‘Do you want peace in this land? If so do away with it (separate electorates),’ urged Patel.”
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