Consider the following declaration and identify the person who made it using the code given below : ‘The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in their incongruous context of humiliation, and, I, for my part, wish to stand shorn of all special distinction, by the side of my countrymen -who, for their so-called insignificance are liable to suffer degradation not fit for human beings’ Code :

The declaration was made by Rabindranath Tagore in his letter to the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, on May 31, 1919 [1]. Tagore wrote these words to renounce his Knighthood, which had been conferred upon him in 1915 following his Nobel Prize in Literature [t3][t6]. The renunciation was a direct protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of April 13, 1919, where British troops fired on unarmed civilians [t2][t5]. In the letter, Tagore expressed that the 'badges of honour' had become incongruous in the face of the 'humiliation' and 'degradation' suffered by his countrymen [c1][c2]. He sought to stand 'shorn of all special distinction' to show solidarity with the Indian masses who were subjected to treatment 'not fit for human beings' [c1][t2]. This act remains one of the most significant symbolic protests in the history of the Indian national movement.

Sources

1. [1] History , class XII (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 4: Advent of Gandhi and Mass Mobilisation > b) Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre > p. 47