Which politician in British India had opposed to a Pakistan that would mean "Muslim Raj here and Hindu Raj elsewhere"?
- A.Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
- B.Sikandar Hayat Khan
- C.Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
- D.Rafi Ahmed Kidwai
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Sikandar Hayat Khan. As Premier of Punjab, he told the Punjab Legislative Assembly in March 1941 that he did not want freedom so that there could be "Muslim Raj here and Hindu Raj elsewhere", and that if this was what Pakistan meant he would have nothing to do with it.
Sikandar Hayat Khan led the Unionist Party, a cross-community alliance of Muslim, Hindu and Sikh landowners that ruled Punjab from 1937. He had drafted an early scheme for a loose federation of regions, yet he wanted a united, autonomous Punjab, not a separate Muslim state. He died in December 1942.
A is wrong: Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the Frontier Gandhi, opposed Partition outright from the Congress side. C is wrong: Maulana Azad also rejected Pakistan, but the quoted words are not his. D is wrong: Rafi Ahmed Kidwai was a Congress leader from the United Provinces.
Exam tip: Unionist Party of Punjab = Fazl-i-Husain (founder), Sikandar Hayat Khan, then Khizr Hayat Tiwana.
Practice Questions
View allThe Ryotwari experiment in land revenue was started by
- A.Henry Dundas
- B.Alexander Reed
- C.David Ricardo
- D.Mountstuart Elphinstone
Show answer
Captain Alexander Read (the name is also spelt Reed) began the Ryotwari experiment in 1792 in the Baramahal region, which the Company had taken from Tipu Sultan, with Thomas Munro as one of his assistants.
Read the full explanation →Who deciphered the Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts?
- A.Piyadassi
- B.Colin Mackenzie
- C.Alexander Cunningham
- D.James Prinsep
Show answer
Prinsep, an official of the East India Company's mint and secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, deciphered the Brahmi script in 1837 and also made the key breakthrough in reading Kharoshthi.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about the Justice Party is not correct?
- A.It clamoured for the same kind of separate communal representation for the Non-Brahmins as had been granted to the Muslims by the Morley-Minto Reforms.
- B.It was patronized mainly by richer landowning and urban middle class Non-Brahmins.
- C.It succeeded in getting the provision for 28 reserved seats for the Non-Brahmins in the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms.
- D.It supported the call given by the Congress to boycott elections in 1920.
Show answer
The Justice Party did not join the Congress boycott of the 1920 elections; it contested them, won a majority in the Madras Legislative Council and formed the first ministry under the new reforms.
Read the full explanation →Which organization was started at the Haridwar Kumbh Mela in 1915?
- A.Sanatan Dharma Sabha
- B.Dev Samaj
- C.Brahmin Sabha
- D.Hindu Mahasabha
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The All-India Hindu Mahasabha held its founding session at Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela of 1915, bringing together the provincial Hindu Sabhas that had grown up, first in Punjab, since 1909.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about the All India Depressed Classes Association is not correct?
- A.The All India Depressed Classes Association was formed in Nagpur with M. C. Rajah as its first elected President.
- B.The All India Depressed Classes Association was not attended by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1926.
- C.Ambedkar resigned from the All India Depressed Classes Association and formed his own All India Depressed Classes Congress in 1930.
- D.The All India Depressed Classes Association favoured Ambedkar's demand for separate electorate for the depressed classes.
Show answer
The All India Depressed Classes Association did not back Ambedkar's demand for a separate electorate; under M. C. Rajah it supported joint electorates with seats reserved for the depressed classes.
Read the full explanation →