"Can you show me one free country where there are separate electorates? ... The British element is gone, but they have left mischief behind". Who among the following said the above mentioned statement in the Constituent Assembly debates?
- (a)Somnath Lahiri
- (b)Jawaharlal Nehru
- (c)Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel
- (d)N. G. Ranga
Correct — C, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Patel made this remark in the Constituent Assembly (28 August 1947) while presenting the Advisory Committee's report on minority rights, which he chaired. Arguing to end separate (communal) electorates, he said no free country has them and that the British had left this 'mischief' of communal division behind. The Assembly went on to abolish separate electorates.
- (a)Somnath Lahiri — A Communist member of the Constituent Assembly known for other interventions (e.g. on fundamental rights and civil liberties); this remark on separate electorates was not his.
- (b)Jawaharlal Nehru — Nehru opposed separate electorates too, but this specific statement, made while moving the minorities report, was Patel's — as chairman of the Advisory Committee on Minorities.
- (d)N. G. Ranga — The peasant leader and Assembly member spoke chiefly on agrarian and rural issues; the quoted lines are not attributed to him.
Separate electorates — where members of a religious community voted only for candidates of their own community — were introduced by the British (Morley-Minto Reforms, 1909) and later widened. Many nationalists saw them as a divide-and-rule device. In the Constituent Assembly, the Advisory Committee on Minorities and Fundamental Rights, chaired by Sardar Patel, recommended abolishing separate electorates in favour of joint electorates, a decision accepted in 1947-49.
The quote's key signal is the speaker's authority over the minorities question: Patel headed the Advisory Committee and moved its report, so the strong call to end separate electorates is his. Nehru shared the view but was not the mover here; Lahiri and Ranga spoke on other themes.
- Speaker: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, in the Constituent Assembly, 28 August 1947
- Patel chaired the Advisory Committee on Minorities & Fundamental Rights
- Context: report recommending abolition of separate (communal) electorates
- Separate electorates began with the Morley-Minto (Indian Councils) Act, 1909
- Attributing the quote to Nehru because he also opposed separate electorates
- Forgetting that Patel chaired the minorities committee that moved the abolition
Constituent Assembly quotes are tested by 'who said this' and by matching leaders to the committees they chaired; anchor Patel with the Advisory Committee on Minorities.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Who chaired the Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights and Minorities in the Constituent Assembly?
- (a)Jawaharlal Nehru
- (b)Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
- (c)Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
- (d)Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Answer(c) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Separate electorates for Muslims in India were first introduced by which of the following?
- (a)Indian Councils Act, 1892
- (b)Morley-Minto Reforms (Indian Councils Act, 1909)
- (c)Government of India Act, 1919
- (d)Government of India Act, 1935
Answer(b) Morley-Minto Reforms, 1909.