Which of the following statements with regard to the speech of Mahatma Gandhi at the opening of the Banaras Hindu University are correct? 1. He charged the Indian elite with a lack of concern for the labouring poor. 2. He asserted that our salvation can come only through the farmers. 3. He highlighted the plight of the untouchables. 4. He promised to take up the cause of the mill owners of Ahmedabad. Select the correct answer using the code given below.

The correct answer is B, 1 and 2 only. At the opening of Banaras Hindu University in February 1916, Gandhi criticised the elite for ignoring the poor and said India's salvation lay with its farmers.

Gandhi had returned from South Africa in January 1915 and was still little known. At the BHU ceremony, attended by princes in rich jewellery, he said the gathering was a contrast to the poverty of the millions, and that there was no salvation for India unless the wealthy shared it with their countrymen. He declared that salvation could come only through the farmer, not through lawyers, doctors or rich landlords. He also objected to speeches being made in English. The speech made him known across the country as a leader who spoke for ordinary Indians.

Option A is wrong because statements 3 and 4 are not part of that speech. Option C is wrong because the plight of the untouchables was not its theme. Option D is wrong because the 1918 Ahmedabad struggle was on behalf of the mill workers, not the mill owners, and it came two years later.

Exam tip: BHU speech February 1916; then Champaran 1917, Kheda 1918, Ahmedabad mill strike 1918.