Reorganization of Indian states along linguistic lines post independence is an example of ____________.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Reformist social movement
Option (1) Revolutionary social movement — Incorrect. A revolutionary movement tries to radically transform social relations, often by capturing state power, as in the Bolshevik revolution. Redrawing state boundaries within the Indian Union changed no social relations and took no power from the state.
Option (2) Reformist social movement — Correct. A reformist movement strives to change the existing social and political arrangements through gradual, incremental steps. The 1960s movement for the reorganisation of Indian states on the basis of language worked within the constitutional system for a step-by-step change, as the recent Right to Information campaign also did.
Option (3) Redemptive social movement — Incorrect. A redemptive movement aims at a change in the personal consciousness and actions of its members, as when Narayana Guru led the Ezhava community in Kerala to change their social practices. The linguistic movements sought new states, not a change in their members’ inner lives.
Option (4) New social movement — Incorrect. New social movements, such as the women’s and environmental movements, are not just about the old issues of economic inequality and unite people across class lines. The linguistic movement of the 1960s is classed by the kind of change it sought, a gradual one, which makes it reformist.
NCERT (2025-26): “Reformist, Redemptive, Revolutionary … There are different kinds of social movements. They can be classified as: (i) redemptive or transformatory; (ii) reformist; and (iii) revolutionary. A redemptive social movement aims to bring about a change in the personal consciousness and actions of its individual members. For instance, people in the Ezhava community in Kerala were led by Narayana Guru to change their social practices. Reformist social movements strive to change the existing social and political arrangements through gradual, incremental steps. The 1960s movement for the reorganisation of Indian states on the basis of language and the recent Right to Information campaign are examples of reformist movements. Revolutionary social movements attempt to radically transform social relations, often by capturing state power. The Bolshevik revolution in Russia that deposed the Tsar to create a communist state and the Naxalite movement in India that seeks to remove oppressive landlords and state officials can be described as revolutionary movements.…” |