Read the passage and answer the questions:
Awadh in Revolt
Lord Dalhousie’s annexations created disaffection in all the areas and principalities that were annexed, but nowhere more so than in the kingdom of Awadh in the heart of North India. Here, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was dethroned and exiled on the plea that the region was being misgoverned. “The British government also wrongly assumed that Wajid Ali Shah was an unpopular ruler. On the contrary, he was widely loved, and when he left his beloved Lucknow, many followed him all the way to Kanpur, singing songs of lament.” The widespread sense of grief and loss at the Nawab’s exile was recorded by many contemporary observers. One wrote: “The life has gone out of the body, and the body of this town has been left lifeless.... There was no street or market and house which did not wail out the cry of agony in separation from Jan-i-Alam.” One folk song bemoaned that “the honourable English came and took the country.” “The emotional upheaval was aggravated by immediate material losses. “The removal of Nawab led to the dissolution of the court and its culture. Thus, a whole range of people—musicians, dancers, poets, artisans, cooks, retainers, administrative officials, and so on—lost their livelihood.
Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was dethroned and exiled to ______________.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Calcutta
After Awadh was annexed in 1856, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was dethroned and exiled to Calcutta on the plea that the region was being misgoverned. The printed passage says only that he was ‘exiled’: the words ‘to Calcutta’ of the original sentence have been left out, so the answer depends on knowing the full account of his exile. Lucknow, his beloved capital, was the city he had to leave.
Note: A same/similar question was asked in CUET (UG) in the papers below.
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| 23-05 S2 25-05 S1* | – | – | – | – |
* A similar question.
NCERT (2025-26): “2.2 ‘The life was gone out of the body’ … Lord Dalhousie’s annexations created disaffection in all the areas and principalities that were annexed but nowhere more so than in the kingdom of Awadh in the heart of North India. Here, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was dethroned and exiled to Calcutta on the plea that the region was being misgoverned. The British government also wrongly assumed that Wajid Ali Shah was an unpopular ruler. On the contrary, he was widely loved, and when he left his beloved Lucknow, there were many who followed him all the way to Kanpur singing songs of lament.…” |