Identify the correct statements about M.K. Gandhi's stay in South Africa:
(A) Gandhi went to South Africa as a merchant, and in time, became a leader of the Indian community in that territory.
(B) In South Africa, Gandhi forged the distinctive techniques of non-violent protest known as satyagraha.
(C) In South Africa, Gandhi promoted harmony between religions.
(D) In South Africa, Gandhi alerted upper-caste Indians to their discriminatory treatment of low castes and women.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → (B), (C) and (D) only
(A) Gandhi went to South Africa as a merchant, and in time, became a leader of the Indian community in that territory. Incorrect. Gandhiji went to South Africa as a lawyer, not as a merchant. The second half of the statement is true: in time he became a leader of the Indian community there.
(B) In South Africa, Gandhi forged the distinctive techniques of non-violent protest known as satyagraha. Correct. It was in South Africa that he first forged satyagraha, his technique of non-violent protest.
(C) In South Africa, Gandhi promoted harmony between religions. Correct. South Africa was also where he first promoted harmony between religions.
(D) In South Africa, Gandhi alerted upper-caste Indians to their discriminatory treatment of low castes and women. Correct. There, too, he first alerted upper-caste Indians to their treatment of low castes and women. The historian Chandran Devanesan has called South Africa “the making of the Mahatma”.
NCERT (2025-26): “1. A Leader Announces Himself … In January 1915, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi returned to his homeland after two decades of residence abroad. These years had been spent for the most part in South Africa, where he went as a lawyer, and in time became a leader of the Indian community in that territory. As the historian Chandran Devanesan has remarked, South Africa was ‘the making of the Mahatma’. It was in South Africa that Mahatma Gandhi first forged the distinctive techniques of non-violent protest known as satyagraha, first promoted harmony between religions, and first alerted upper -caste Indians to their discriminatory treatment of low castes and women.…” |