Question

Why did the british resort to the divide and rule policy

Answer 1

Planning phase was over by 1700. Now British had started to hold their grip over India. The rulers were fighting against each other. British lent their support to the needy ones and helped them win the other hence winning their loyalty and gross compensations in return to keep protecting them.

Answer 2

Divide and Rule policy was a policy of the British in which they sowed the seeds of hatred among communities of Hindus and Muslims so that we could not be united and strong enough to fight with the British .

Why did they adopt the policy ?

They adopted the policy so that they can easily administer our country .

They can easily extract resources and exploit us .

The Muslim and Hindu unity was their strongest enemy.

Their unity brought about the First War of Independence .

Hence they resorted to this policy.

How did they implement the Divide and Rule Policy ?

They implemented the Divide and Rule Policy by the following ways :

• The British Government portrayed the Muslims as plunderers to the Hindus.
• They portrayed Hindu rulers as cruel kings to the Muslim subjects .
• They tried to justify that Bengal was partitioned for creating Muslim majority.
• They gave special aid to Muslim madarsas .
• They tried to spread communal hatred through literature.
• They spread communal hatred through the press .
• They tried to take advantage of the caste system.