Read the passage and answer the question:
“The British element is gone, but they have left the mischief behind” :
Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel said :
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 was the legacy left behind by the British?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Policy of divide and rule
The passage says that the British introduced separate electorates for their easy administration and have left the legacy behind. Most nationalists saw separate electorates as a measure deliberately introduced by the British to divide the people; in Patel’s words, the demand had turned one community against another and divided the nation.
Hence, the answer is Policy of divide and rule.
Note: The phrase ‘policy of divide and rule’ is not used in the NCERT book (2026-27); the book says that most nationalists saw separate electorates as “a measure deliberately introduced by the British to divide the people”.
NCERT (2026-27): “3.1 The problem with separate electorates … This demand for separate electorates provoked anger and dismay amongst most nationalists. In the passionate debate that followed, a range of arguments were offered against the demand. Most nationalists saw separate electorates as a measure deliberately introduced by the British to divide the people. ‘The English played their game under the cover of safeguards,’ R.V. Dhulekar told Bahadur. ‘With the help of it they allured you (the minorities) to a long lull. Give it up now … Now there is no one to misguide you.…”
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