Consider the following statements: 1. Dr. Rajendra Prasad persuaded Mahatma Gandhi to come to Champaran to investigate the problem of peasants. 2. Acharya J.B. Kriplani was one of Mahatma Gandhi's colleagues in his Champaran investigation. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Statement 1 is incorrect: the well-attested account identifies Rajkumar Shukla — not Dr. Rajendra Prasad — as the person who persistently persuaded Mahatma Gandhi to visit Champaran and investigate the peasants’ plight. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, however, was a prominent local leader and participant in the movement and later wrote its history, but he is not credited as the persuader of Gandhi [1]. Statement 2 is correct: contemporary accounts and listings of the Champaran enquiry name J. B. Kripalani among the colleagues and organisers who worked with Gandhi during the 1917 Champaran Satyagraha [1]. Hence, only statement 2 is correct.

Sources

1. [2] Rajiv Ahir. A Brief History of Modern India (2019 ed.). SPECTRUM. > Chapter 15: Emergence of Gandhi > Champaran Satyagraha (1917)—First Civil Disobedience > p. 317
2. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champaran_Satyagraha