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”.

Who is the 'I' in the passage?
(1) Vallabhbhai Patel
(2) Rajendra Prasad
(3) Jawaharlal Nehru
(4) Govind Vallabh Pant

4

During the debate on 27 August 1947, Govind Ballabh Pant said “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”.

Countering the demand for separate electorates, Govind Ballabh Pant declared that it was not only harmful to the nation but also to the minorities and 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 empathize 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.