Which of the following statements about Mahatma Gandhi's anti-untouchability campaign is/are correct? 1. The All India Harijan Sevak Sangh was founded for this purpose. 2. The campaign was to root out untouchability, since it did not enjoy the sanction of the Hindu shastras. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a)1 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Correct — C, both 1 and 2. To carry his campaign against untouchability into organised work, Gandhi founded the All India Anti-Untouchability League in 1932, which was soon renamed the Harijan Sevak Sangh — so statement 1 is correct. Gandhi argued that untouchability was a later corruption with no sanction in the Hindu shastras and that Hinduism itself demanded its removal, and this conviction drove the campaign — so statement 2 is correct. Both statements are therefore right.
- (a)1 only — Statement 2 is also correct: Gandhi held that untouchability lacked the sanction of the Hindu shastras.
- (b)2 only — Statement 1 is also correct: the Harijan Sevak Sangh was founded precisely to fight untouchability.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Both statements are correct, so 'neither' cannot be the answer.
After the Poona Pact of 1932, Gandhi threw himself into the removal of untouchability, which he called the greatest blot on Hinduism. He set up the All India Anti-Untouchability League (renamed the Harijan Sevak Sangh) and later started the weekly 'Harijan', arguing that caste-based untouchability had no scriptural sanction and had to be uprooted from within Hindu society.
Both statements describe genuine features of the campaign — its organisational vehicle (the Sangh) and its moral argument (no shastric sanction). The trap is to accept only one and reject the other.
- Gandhi founded the All India Anti-Untouchability League in 1932, renamed the Harijan Sevak Sangh.
- G. D. Birla was its president and Amritlal Thakkar (Thakkar Bapa) its secretary.
- Gandhi launched the weekly 'Harijan' in 1933; 'Harijan' meant 'children of God'.
- He argued untouchability had no sanction in the Hindu shastras and must be abolished.
- Getting the date or name of the Sangh wrong (1932; All India Anti-Untouchability League → Harijan Sevak Sangh).
- Assuming Ambedkar, not Gandhi, founded the Harijan Sevak Sangh.
Asked on the aims and means of Gandhi's anti-untouchability campaign — the Harijan Sevak Sangh and the 'no shastric sanction' argument.
Consider the following pairs (Movement/Organization — Leader): All India Anti-Untouchability League — Mahatma Gandhi; All India Kisan Sabha — Swami Sahajanand Saraswati; Self-Respect Movement — E. V. Ramaswami Naicker. Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 1 and 2 only
- (c) 2 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(d) 1, 2 and 3
Confirms the same fact from the other direction: the All India Anti-Untouchability League (later the Harijan Sevak Sangh) was founded by Mahatma Gandhi — the organisational vehicle of his anti-untouchability campaign.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The organisation founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932 to fight untouchability was first named the
- (a)Depressed Classes Mission
- (b)All India Anti-Untouchability League
- (c)Servants of India Society
- (d)Satyashodhak Samaj
Answer(b) All India Anti-Untouchability League — later renamed the Harijan Sevak Sangh.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The weekly journal started by Mahatma Gandhi in 1933 to further his campaign against untouchability was called
- (a)Young India
- (b)Harijan
- (c)Navjivan
- (d)Indian Opinion
Answer(b) Harijan — devoted to the upliftment of the 'children of God'.