In the given question, a statement of Assertion is followed by a statement of Reason. Mark the correct answer.

Assertion: Peasants, workers, and others interpreted and acted upon the call to “non-cooperate” with colonial rule in ways that best suited their interests.

Reason: In February 1922, a group of peasants attacked and torched a police station in the hamlet of Chauri Chaura, and several constables perished in the conflagration.

Both the Assertion and the Reason are correct but the Reason is not the correct explanation of the Assertion.

The correct answer is Option 2 - Both the Assertion and the Reason are correct but the Reason is not the correct explanation of the Assertion.

Assertion: Peasants, workers, and others interpreted and acted upon the call to “non-cooperate” with colonial rule in ways that best suited their interests. (Correct)

Reason: In February 1922, a group of peasants attacked and torched a police station in the hamlet of Chauri Chaura, and several constables perished in the conflagration. (Correct)

Explanation:

The reason is true. However, the Reason does not directly explain the Assertion. The Chauri Chaura incident is an example of one such event but does not fully explain why peasants, workers, and others interpreted the movement to suit their own interests. The incident is more about how the movement escalated in some cases rather than why different groups had varied interpretations.

Non-Cooperation Movement: Students stopped going to schools and colleges run by the government. Lawyers refused to attend court. The working class went on strike in many towns and cities: according to official figures, there were 396 strikes in 1921, involving 600,000 workers and a loss of seven million workdays. The countryside was seething with discontent too. Hill tribes in northern Andhra violated the forest laws. Farmers in Awadh did not pay taxes. Peasants in Kumaun refused to carry loads for colonial officials. These protest movements were sometimes carried out in defiance of the local nationalist leadership. Peasants, workers, and others interpreted and acted upon the call to “non-cooperate” with colonial rule in ways that best suited their interests, rather than conform to the dictates laid down from above.

In February 1922, a group of peasants attacked and torched a police station in the hamlet of Chauri Chaura, in the United Provinces (now, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal). Several constables perished in the conflagration. This act of violence prompted Gandhiji to call off the movement altogether. “No provocation,” he insisted, “can possibly justify (the) brutal murder of men who had been rendered defenceless and who had virtually thrown themselves on the mercy of the mob.”