A research scholar in a Delhi archive is reading newspaper files from 1942 to 1947. She marks reports of a nationwide movement against British rule, of an upsurge in the spring of 1946 that won wide public support, and of strikes by workers and peasants in different regions. She tries to see what these protests had in common. She then turns to reports on talks between the major political parties and to news of communal violence in 1946 and 1947, trying to see how the period led up to the work of the Constituent Assembly.
What striking feature would the scholar find in the popular protests she marked, from the 1942 movement to the strikes of the late 1940s?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → A high degree of Hindu-Muslim unity among those who took part
Option (1) The guidance of the Congress and the Muslim League acting together — Incorrect. The two parties repeatedly failed to reach a settlement for religious reconciliation, so joint guidance of the protests was absent.
Option (2) The hope of winning freedom through armed struggle with foreign aid — Incorrect. Armed struggle with foreign aid was the bid of Subhas Chandra Bose. It was one leader's separate effort.
Option (3) A high degree of Hindu-Muslim unity among those who took part — Correct. The Quit India struggle, the naval rising of 1946 and the strikes of workers and peasants all showed Hindu-Muslim unity. This stood against the failure of the leading parties to agree.
Option (4) A demand for separate electorates for each religious community — Incorrect. Separate electorates were a demand raised in political debates. These popular upsurges instead joined people across religions.
NCERT (2026-27): “1. A Tumultuous Time … “An even more recent upsurge had also evoked much popular sympathy – this was the rising of the ratings of the Royal Indian Navy in Bombay and other cities in the spring of 1946. Through the late 1940s there were periodic, if scattered, mass protests of workers and peasants in different parts of the country.” “One striking feature of these popular upsurges was the degree of Hindu-Muslim unity they manifested.” |