Within south Bihar, adivasis shared a common hatred of dikus. Who wer…

The correct answer is Option (4) → Migrant traders and moneylenders who had settled in the area and grabbed its wealth

Option (1) Santhal migrants from the Santhal Parganas who had settled in Chota Nagpur — Incorrect. Santhals are themselves an adivasi community, one of the groups whose lands were alienated. Dikus were outsiders who came to the area to trade and lend money.

Option (2) Literate adivasis who had taken government jobs and formed a new middle class — Incorrect. Literate adivasis with government jobs formed a middle-class adivasi intellectual leadership. This group formulated the demand for a separate state and lobbied for it in India and abroad.

Option (3) Christian missionaries who had settled in south Bihar and worked among the adivasis — Incorrect. Christian missionaries spread literacy in south Bihar. That literacy helped adivasis write their own history and build a shared identity as Jharkhandis.

Option (4) Migrant traders and moneylenders who had settled in the area and grabbed its wealth — Correct. Dikus were migrant traders and moneylenders who settled in south Bihar and grabbed its wealth. This left the original residents poor, which is why adivasis hated them.