In his speech at the ceremony, through whom did the speaker say India…

A history student is reading about a ceremony held in February 1916 to open a new university in a north Indian city. Among the guests were princes, noblemen and leading Congress figures such as Annie Besant. One speaker, still little known in India and invited for his work in South Africa, did not praise the occasion. He turned instead to the people of the country and to the privileged guests gathered before him. In December that year, at the annual Congress session in Lucknow, a man from Champaran in Bihar came to the same speaker with a complaint.

In his speech at the ceremony, through whom did the speaker say India's salvation could only come?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → The farmer

Option (1) The lawyers — Incorrect. Lawyers led much of the early national movement, but Gandhiji counted them among those who would not secure India's salvation.

Option (2) The industrial workers — Incorrect. Workers were part of the absent majority Gandhiji recalled at Banaras, yet in his speech India's salvation could only come through the farmer.

Option (3) The farmer — Correct. At the opening of the BHU, Gandhiji said <strong>salvation can only come through the farmer</strong>. There could be no self-government if the peasants lost almost the whole of the results of their labour.

Option (4) The students — Incorrect. The Banaras speech marked the opening of a university, yet Gandhiji placed the hope of salvation in the farmer alone, whose labour the elite took away.

NCERT (2026-27): “1. A Leader Announces Himself …
When his turn came to speak, Gandhiji charged the Indian elite with a lack of concern for the labouring poor. The opening of the BHU, he said, was “certainly a most gorgeous show”. But he worried about the contrast between the “richly bedecked noblemen” present and “millions of the poor” Indians who were absent. Gandhiji told the privileged invitees that “there is no salvation for India unless you strip yourself of this jewellery and hold it in trust for your countrymen in India”. “There can be no spirit of selfgovernment about us,” he went on, “if we take away or allow others to take away from the peasants almost the whole of the results of their labour. Our salvation can only come through the farmer. Neither the lawyers, nor the doctors, nor the rich landlords are going to secure it.””