Question

Read the following source carefully and answer the questions that follow:

“The British element is gone, but they have left the mischief behind”. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel said: It is no use saying that we ask for separate electorates, because it is good for us. We have heard it long enough. We have heard it for years, and as a result of this agitation we are now a separate nation … Can you show me one free country where there are separate electorates? If so, I shall be prepared to accept it. But in this unfortunate country if this separate electorate is going to be persisted in, even after the division of the country, woe betide the country; it is not worth living in. Therefore, I say, it is not for my good alone, it is for your own good that I say it, forget the past. One day, we may be united … The British element is gone, but they have left the mischief behind. We do not want to perpetuate that mischief. (Hear, hear). When the British introduced this element, they had not expected that they will have to go so soon. They wanted it for their easy administration. That is all right. But they have left the legacy behind. Are we to get out of it or not?

1. ‘They have left a legacy behind “who is referred as’ They’ in this statement.
2. What do you infer from the statement ‘they have left the legacy behind Are we to get out of it or not?
3. Identify the ultimate message stressed by Sardar Valla Bhai Patel in his speech.

Answer 1

1. The British
2. The British did not want Indians to be united, they applied divide and rule policy, for their easy administration and they created a division which had affected the life of the people/entire nation and hence the need to get out of it was insisted.
3. He was urging the people of our country not to adopt the legacy left behind by the British called "separation"/divide and rule policy.