Read the passage and answer the question:
In the Gangetic plain too the progress of British reconquest was slow. The forces had to reconquer the area village by village. The countryside and the people around were entirely hostile. As soon as they began their counter-insurgency operations, the British realised that they were not dealing with a mere mutiny but an uprising that had huge popular support. In Awadh, for example, a British official called Forsyth estimated that three-fourths of the adult male population was in rebellion. The area was brought under control only in March 1858 after protracted fighting.
Why did the revolt acquire huge popular support in Awadh?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → British policies had adversely affected almost every section and class of the people in Awadh.
Option (1) Since Bahadur Shah Zafar was the leader of the revolt in Awadh. — Incorrect. Bahadur Shah was the Mughal emperor at Delhi. In Awadh, the people of Lucknow hailed Birjis Qadr, the young son of the Nawab, as their leader, because the removal of the popular Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was still fresh in their memory.
Option (2) British policies had adversely affected almost every section and class of the people in Awadh. — Correct. A chain of grievances in Awadh linked prince, taluqdar, peasant and sepoy. The annexation displaced the Nawab and also dispossessed the taluqdars, and in different ways all these groups came to see firangi raj as the end of their world. So in Awadh, more than anywhere else, the revolt became an expression of popular resistance to an alien order.
Option (3) Because of the role played by print media. — Incorrect. The support came from the grievances that British rule had caused to every class, from the Nawab down to the sepoy; print media do not figure among its causes.
Option (4) Because Awadh was the first province where British rule was established. — Incorrect. Awadh was taken late and in stages: the Subsidiary Alliance was imposed on it in 1801, and the kingdom was formally annexed only in 1856, a year before the revolt.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.3 Leaders and followers … In Awadh, where the displacement of the popular Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and the annexation of the state were still very fresh in the memory of the people, the populace in Lucknow celebrated the fall of British rule by hailing Birjis Qadr, the young son of the Nawab, as their leader.… 2. Awadh in Revolt … In 1851 Governor General Lord Dalhousie described the kingdom of Awadh as ‘a cherry that will drop into our mouth one day’. Five years later, in 1856, the kingdom was formally annexed to the British Empire.… 2.3 Firangi raj and the end of a world … A chain of grievances in Awadh linked prince, taluqdar, peasant and sepoy. In different ways they came to identify firangi raj with the end of their world – the breakdown of things they valued, respected and held dear.… … In Awadh, more than anywhere else, the revolt became an expression of popular resistance to an alien order. The annexation displaced not just the Nawab. It also dispossessed the taluqdars of the region.…” |