Which of the following statements are correct about the annexation of Awadh?

(A) The Subsidiary Alliance was imposed on Awadh in 1856.
(B) The British annexed Awadh as the region was ideally located to be developed into the principal market of upper India.
(C) Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, the Nawab of Awadh, was dethroned and exiled on the charge of misgoverning the region.
(D) The removal of the Nawab led to the prosperity of musicians, dancers, poets, artisans, cooks, retainers and others.
(E) When the Nawab of Awadh left Lucknow, there were many who followed him all the way to Kanpur, singing songs of lament.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

(B), (C), (E) Only

The correct answer is Option (4) → (B), (C), (E) Only

 Given statements:

(A) The Subsidiary Alliance was imposed on Awadh in 1856. (INCORRECT)
(B) The British annexed Awadh as the region was ideally located to be developed into the principal market of upper India.
(C) Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, the Nawab of Awadh, was dethroned and exiled on the charge of misgoverning the region.
(D) The removal of the Nawab led to the prosperity of musicians, dancers, poets, artisans, cooks, retainers and others. (INCORRECT)
(E) When the Nawab of Awadh left Lucknow, there were many who followed him all the way to Kanpur, singing songs of lament.

The story of Awadh:

In 1851 Governor General Lord Dalhousie described the kingdom of Awadh as “a cherry that will drop into our mouth one day”. 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 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.

In the meantime the British became increasingly interested in acquiring the territory of Awadh. They felt that the soil there was good for producing indigo and cotton, and the region was ideally located to be developed into the principal market of Upper India. By the early 1850s, moreover, all the major areas of India had been conquered: the Maratha lands, the Doab, the Carnatic, the Punjab and Bengal. The takeover of Awadh in 1856 was expected to complete a process of territorial annexation that had begun with the conquest of Bengal almost a century earlier.

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 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. The widespread sense of grief and loss at the Nawab’s exile was recorded by many contemporary observers. One of them wrote: “The life was gone out of the body, and the body of this town had been left lifeless … there was no street or market and house which did not wail out the cry of agony in separation of Jan-i-Alam.” One folk song bemoaned that “the honourable English came and took the country’’ (Angrez Bahadur ain, mulk lai linho). This emotional upheaval was aggravated by immediate material losses. The removal of the Nawab led to the dissolution of the court and its culture. Thus a whole range of people – musicians, dancers, poets, artisans, cooks, retainers, administrative officials and so on – lost their livelihood.