His principal forte was social and religious reform. He relied upon legislation to do away with social ills and worked unceasingly for the eradication of child marriage, the purdah system …… To encourage consideration of social problems on a national scale, he inaugurated the Indian National Social Conference, which for many years met for its annual sessions alongside the Indian National Congress.’ The reference in this passage is to:
- Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
- Behramji Malabari
- Mahadev Govind Ranade
- B. R. Ambedkar
Explanation
Option (c) is correct
- Mahadev Govind Ranade, believed in the overall development of society and held that social, religious, political, and economic reforms were interdependent. He emphasised social democracy along with political democracy. In the 1886 Calcutta Session, Dadabhai declared that the Congress would take up only national questions and not deal with religious and social matters. Hence, Ranade established the National Social Conference, a separate body for social reforms, in 1887, during INC’s third session. Ranade called the National Social Conference the younger sister of Congress.
