Choose the correct statements out of the following:

A. Lord Dalhousie described Kingdom of Awadh as "a cherry that will drop into our mouth one day".
B. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was Nawab of Awadh
C. By the terms of Subsidiary Alliance, Nawab of Awadh had to strengthen the military forces on his own.
D. By the terms of Subsidiary Alliance, Nawab of Awadh was free to maintain law and order into the kingdom.
E. Due to Subsidiary Alliance, Nawab will no longer assert control over the chiefs and taluqdars.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

A, B, E only

The correct answer is Option (2) → A, B, E only

Statements A, B and E are correct:

A. Lord Dalhousie described Kingdom of Awadh as "a cherry that will drop into our mouth one day".
B. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was Nawab of Awadh
E. Due to Subsidiary Alliance, Nawab will no longer assert control over the chiefs and taluqdars.

The following statements are incorrect-

C. By the terms of Subsidiary Alliance, Nawab of Awadh had to strengthen the military forces on his own.
D. By the terms of Subsidiary Alliance, Nawab of Awadh was free to maintain law and order into the kingdom.

Awadh and Subsidiary Alliance:

In 1851 Governor General Lord Dalhousie described the kingdom of Awadh as “a cherry that will drop into our mouth one day” (Statement A). Five years later, in 1856, the kingdom was formally annexed to the British Empire. The conquest happened in stages. The Subsidiary Alliance had been imposed on Awadh in 1801 by Lord Wellesley. By the terms of this alliance, the Nawab had to disband his military force, allow the British to position their troops within the kingdom, and act in accordance with the advice of the British Resident who was now to be attached to the court. Deprived of his armed forces, the Nawab became increasingly dependent on the British to maintain law and order within the kingdom. He could no longer assert control over the rebellious chiefs and taluqdars (Statement E).

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 (Statement B) 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.