GATE 2017 EC (EC2) – Question 6
“If you are looking for a history of India, or for an account of the rise and fall of the British Raj, or for the reason of the cleaving of the subcontinent into two mutually antagonistic parts and the effects this mutilation will have in the respective sections, and ultimately on Asia, you will not find it in these pages; for though I have spent a lifetime in the country, I lived too near the seat of events, and was too intimately associated with the actors, to get the perspective needed for the impartial recording of these matters.”
Which statement best reflects the author's opinion?
Practise this question in The GATE Grind →
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: (A) An intimate association does not allow for the necessary perspective.
Explanation
The author explicitly says that living close to events and being intimately associated with their participants prevented the perspective needed for an impartial history. This supports **A**. B claims an impartial record is supplied, C reverses the author’s point, and D makes a claim about the actors that the passage does not establish.