Question 1267

DIRECTIONS: Read the passage and answer the questions that follow. Since Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination on January 30, 1948, the world has witnessed some horrific instances of mass violence as well as a few remarkable acts of contrition , forgiveness, and grace. First, consider the inhumanities inflicted on people. The 1958-1961 famine during Chairman Mao Zedong’s time killed 20-40 million, according to some estimates, in the People’s Republic of China. some stunning instances of (1)/mankind’s more forgiving (2)/ and compassionate side (3)/ the world also witnessed (4)/ in almost the same period (5)/. The Indian Constitution (1)/was framed in (2)a period of intense religious (3)/ polarisation and the assassination of Gandhi (4)/. The founding document of the Indian Republic turned India’s back on religious divisions at a time when that looked impossible while giving a leg up to the historically wronged. Similarly, South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up in 1996, ensured the country’s bloodless transition to popular democracy by giving a voice to both the victims and _______ of apartheid. The German acceptance of responsibility for crimes against the Jews was no less impressive. In a prominent part of Berlin, in a space spread across 200,000 sq ft, one can ‘experience’ the world’s largest and most powerful monument to national penitence. That the German government supported this vast memorialization is unique in history and a logical culmination of an exceptional act of repentance by a head of state. After laying a wreath at a memorial at the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw on December 7, 1970, German Chancellor Willy Brandt, in a typically Gandhian gesture, spontaneously got down on his knees for half a minute. In that moment of atonement , he unreservedly assumed responsibility for the Holocaust and lifted a terrible burden off Germany’s shoulders. Brandt’s ‘Warsaw genuflection’ led to the memorial in Berlin and contributed years later to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s magnanimous 2015 gesture allowing a million refugees, fleeing lands overrun by the Islamic State, into Germany. Ms. Merkel’s decision, taken in the face of a Europe hit by multiple attacks by Islamic militants and steeped in Islamophobia, ranks as the most courageous humanitarian decision any leader has ever taken. However, there were missed chances too. Presented with an opportunity to stand up for the Rohingya, Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi has chosen to prevaricate and even justify their persecution in her country. Neighbouring countries, such as India, are also turning their backs on the Rohingya refugees. The biggest tragedy is unfolding in India. The ham-handed application of the National Register of Citizens in Assam is forcing hundreds of thousands into internment camps indefinitely with no hope of _______ to Bangladesh from where they are said to have fled many years ago. Now there is the threat of the NRC being extended across the country. India has an opportunity to end this farce by giving citizenship to all those identified as foreigners everywhere if required by proportionately assigning them to all states of the Union for voting rights. In the 150th year of Gandhi’s birth anniversary, it even has the right occasion to show such grace. Fill in the blanks. The ham-handed application of the National Register of Citizens in Assam is forcing hundreds of thousands into internment camps indefinitely with no hope of _______ to Bangladesh from where they are said to have fled many years ago.