Question

Swaraj means
A. Complete Independence
B. Self rule
C. Self Government
D. All of the above

Answer 1

Hint:Swami Dayanand Saraswati, a Hindu reformer and founder of the Arya Samaj defined swaraj as the "democracy" or "administration of self" . According to Swami Dayanand Saraswati, God has created human beings free to carry out any work they intend to choose, and then he questioned the right of the British rule to make India and people of the nation slave on their own homeland land. In his view, swaraj was the basis for freedom fighting against the British colonization.

Complete answer:
Swaraj is an ancient word of Sanskrit where ‘swa’ means self, or one’s own, and ‘raj’, means rule.Mahatma Gandhi pioneered the ideology of ‘Swaraj’ during the British rule. His concept of ‘Swaraj’ was to empower masses and give them the real sense of self-rule. In political terms it refers to the execution of democracy in its right form starting from the grass-root level to every level where there is a public representative, besides this it is also refers to the overall development of the country where every sector of the society including all the caste, religion, sex, race or social status are treated same. But, post-independence with course of time, the meaning of ‘Swaraj’ modified to employment of improved governance in a democratic political structure and encouragement of equality and overall development.

Hence, the correct answer is option (D).

Note: Gandhi’s idea of ‘Swaraj’ during British rule was more importantly to liberate and empower people and teach to rule themselves and develop self-respect and self-control. By making people aware about liberation, Gandhi intended to refuse and completely reject the British rule in the country.