Which of the following pairs of speaker and view in the Constituent Assembly debate on separate electorates is correctly matched?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Bahadur - Only separate electorates would ensure that Muslims had a meaningful voice
Option (1) Sardar Patel - The English played their game under the cover of safeguards — Incorrect. These words were said by R.V. Dhulekar to Bahadur. Patel's own phrase was a poison in the body politic.
Option (2) R.V. Dhulekar - Separate electorates were a poison that had entered the body politic — Incorrect. This was Sardar Patel's phrase. Dhulekar charged that the English had used safeguards to lull the minorities.
Option (3) Bahadur - Only separate electorates would ensure that Muslims had a meaningful voice — Correct. Bahadur argued that only separate electorates would give Muslims a meaningful voice in governing the country.
Option (4) Bahadur - The needs of Muslims could be properly understood by non-Muslims — Incorrect. Bahadur said the reverse. The needs of Muslims could not be properly understood by non-Muslims.
NCERT (2026-27): “3.1 The problem with separate electorates … “This demand for separate electorates provoked anger and dismay amongst most nationalists. In the passionate debate that followed, a range of arguments were offered against the demand. Most nationalists saw separate electorates as a measure deliberately introduced by the British to divide the people. “The English played their game under the cover of safeguards,” R.V. Dhulekar told Bahadur. “With the help of it they allured you (the minorities) to a long lull. Give it up now … Now there is no one to misguide you.” Partition had made nationalists fervently opposed to the idea of separate electorates. They were haunted by the fear of continued civil war, riots and violence. Separate electorates was a “poison that has entered the body politic of our country”, declared Sardar Patel. It was a demand that had turned one community against another, divided the nation, caused bloodshed, and led to the tragic partition of the country. …” |