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?
Name the Constituent Assembly member who made a powerful plea for the continuation of separate electorate?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → B. Pocker Bahadur
The passage talks about the debate on separate electorates in the Constituent Assembly. On 27 August 1947, B. Pocker Bahadur from Madras made a powerful plea for continuing separate electorates; Patel and Govind Ballabh Pant spoke against them.
Hence, the answer is B. Pocker Bahadur.
NCERT (2026-27): “3.1 The problem with separate electorates … On 27 August 1947, B. Pocker Bahadur from Madras made a powerful plea for continuing separate electorates. Minorities exist in all lands, argued Bahadur; they could not be wished away, they could not be ‘erased out of existence’. The need was to create a political framework in which minorities could live in harmony with others, and the differences between communities could be minimised.…” |