Which of the following statements with regard to the speech of Mahatma Gandhi at the opening of the Banaras Hindu University are correct? 1. He charged the Indian elite with a lack of concern for the labouring poor. 2. He asserted that our salvation can come only through the farmers. 3. He highlighted the plight of the untouchables. 4. He promised to take up the cause of the mill owners of Ahmedabad. Select the correct answer using the code given below.

The correct answer is Option 2 (1 and 2 only). Mahatma Gandhi’s speech at the opening of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in February 1916 marked his first major public address in India, where he critiqued the elitist nature of Indian nationalism.

• Statement 1 is correct: Gandhi openly criticized the richly bedecked princes and the English-speaking elite for their ostentatious display of wealth, charging them with a lack of concern for the millions of "labouring poor" who constituted the real India.
• Statement 2 is correct: He famously asserted that India’s salvation would come only through the farmers (peasants), stating that neither lawyers, doctors, nor rich landlords would secure self-government.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: While Gandhi later championed the cause of "Harijans," his BHU speech primarily focused on the contrast between the elite and the rural masses rather than specifically highlighting the plight of untouchables.
• Statement 4 is incorrect: The Ahmedabad Mill strike occurred later in 1918; he did not promise to take up their cause during the 1916 BHU inauguration.