Official Question UPSC 2026
Consider the following assertion : The genesis of political alliances based on community lay in the very nature of the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms, 1919. Which of the following statements support/supports the above assertion ? 1. Reforms retained and extended the principle of separate electorates. 2. Separate electorates were supposed to counter Indian nationalism, which was growing stronger. 3. Deprived classes rallied around the favours inherent in separate electorates. Select the answer using the code given below :
Solution & Analysis
Answer: D
Historical analysis of the Government of India Act, 1919 (Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms) confirms the assertion through the following mechanisms:
•Statement 1 Supports: The 1909 Morley-Minto reforms introduced separate electorates for Muslims. The 1919 reforms institutionalized this further by retaining and explicitly extending these separate electorates to Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, and Europeans, fundamentally cementing community-based voting blocks.
•Statement 2 Supports: This was a deliberate imperial strategy. By rewarding fractured, micro-identities, the British sought to legally institutionalize 'Divide and Rule' to counter and weaken the unified Indian nationalist movement that was gaining alarming momentum post-World War I.
•Statement 3 Supports: Because the new legislative framework tied political power, jobs, and administrative favors directly to these isolated communal seats, deprived classes and minorities were practically incentivized to rally around their distinct community identities rather than a secular national identity to secure their rights.
Conclusion: All three statements accurately explain how the 1919 reforms structurally forced the genesis of community-based political alliances.