Read the following passage and answer questions 46 to 50: Gandhi's speech in…
2022
Read the following passage and answer questions 46 to 50:
Gandhi's speech in Banaras in February 1916 was, at one level, merely a statement of fact namely, that Indian nationalism was an elite phenomenon, a creation of lawyers and doctors and landlords. But, at another level, it was a statement of intent—the first public announcement of the returning expatriate's own desire to make Indian nationalism more properly representative of the Indian people. In the last month of that year, Gandhi was presented with an opportunity to put his precepts into practice. At a meeting held in Lucknow in December 1916, he was approached by a peasant from Champaran in Bihar. The peasant told him about the harsh treatment of peasants by British Indigo planters. Gandhi was to spend most of 1917 in Champaran. He was seeking to obtain for the peasants security of tenure as well as the freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice. In 1918, Gandhi was involved in two campaigns in his home State of Gujarat. First, he intervened in a labor dispute in Ahmedabad to better the conditions of textile mill workers. Then he joined peasants in Kheda for remission of taxes on peasants following the failure of their harvest. These initiatives marked Gandhi as a nationalist with sympathy for the poor. These were local struggles. During World War I, the British had instituted press censorship and permitted detention without trial. The Rowlatt committee recommended the continuation of these tough measures. Gandhiji's call for a countrywide campaign brought life to a standstill in north and west India.
Which issue propelled Gandhiji to the national stage for a wider movement?
Answer: D. The Rowlatt Act — ConceptA movement reaches the national stage when it moves beyond a local grievance and mobilizes people across regions around a shared political issue. Local…
- A.
Labour dispute of textile mill workers in Ahmedabad
- B.
Agitation peasants in Kheda
- C.
The revolt against British Indigo planters
- D.
The Rowlatt Act
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Correct answer: D
Concept
A movement reaches the national stage when it moves beyond a local grievance and mobilizes people across regions around a shared political issue.
Local interventions may build a leader’s public standing, but a countrywide call marks the wider scale.
Application
The passage describes Champaran, Ahmedabad, and Kheda as local struggles.
It then states that the Rowlatt Committee recommended continuing wartime controls such as press censorship and detention without trial, and that Gandhi’s countrywide campaign brought life to a standstill in north and west India.
Contrast
The Ahmedabad dispute concerned textile-mill workers in one city.
The Kheda agitation concerned tax remission after crop failure in one district.
The Champaran campaign concerned indigo cultivators and planter oppression in one locality.
The agitation against the Rowlatt Act was explicitly countrywide.
Result
Therefore, the Rowlatt Act issue propelled Gandhiji onto the national stage for a wider movement.