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?
What is opposed by the speaker in the above passage?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → The demand for separate electorate
The speaker rejects the claim that separate electorates are good for the minority and says that if they are kept on even after the division of the country, ‘woe betide the country’. Partition had made the nationalists fervently opposed to separate electorates.
Option (1) The division of the country — Incorrect. The division has already happened; he speaks of what should be done after it.
Option (2) The demand for separate electorate — Correct. His whole speech argues against continuing separate electorates.
Option (3) The lapse of the British element — Incorrect. He does not regret that the British have gone; he regrets only the mischief they left behind.
Option (4) The demand for easy administration — Incorrect. Easy administration was the British reason for the system, not a demand that anyone was making in the Assembly.
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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