Who could
imagine that Aurangzeb and Narendra Modi would have some things in common? But
life surprises.
To begin
with, both are Gujaratis at least by birth. Aurangzeb was born in the town of
Dahod, near Godhra, 200 km from Ahmedabad. Modi's birthplace is Vadnagar,
100-odd km away. In any case, Modi owes his political rebirth in his current
avatar to Godhra.
Aurangzeb
loved the town of his birth and three years before his death, instructed his
son, the governor of Gujarat, to take special care of it.
Whether Modi
loves Vadnagar or not, he does seem to have bestowed very special attention on
it as Gujarat's chief minister.
Aurangzeb
was Shah Jahan's third of four sons and was devoted to studying Islam and its
exclusive history; his brother Dara Shikoh also studied religions, without
pitting Islam against others, especially Hinduism.
Aurangzeb
had wide administrative and military experience as governor of the Deccan and
Gujarat. He cultivated the image of a saint given to pious deeds rather than
savouring material comforts, who earned his living by copying the Quran and
stitching caps. Underneath this pretence, however, lay his ambition of
ascending the throne when the call came. But he always coolly calculated the
right moment to strike and when it came, anyone and everything that stood in
his way would be struck down mercilessly. That some of them had been his
supporters and well wishers mattered little.
With his
sight fixed on the Peacock Throne, Aurangzeb knew that Dara was the chief
obstacle. So, he sought to isolate him by befriending his two other brothers by
offering them big prizes. Once Dara had been defeated, Aurangzeb turned on the
others.
European
travellers Bernier and Manucci tell us Aurangzeb invited the youngest, Murad,
to his tent, took an oath on the holy Quran that he had no interest in the
throne, plied him with unlimited liquor until he lost his moorings, put him in
chains and sent to the Gwalior fort.
Familiar
Stepping Stones
After a
while, Murad was executed following the pretence of a judicial process. The
other brother, Shuja, was virtually driven to modern Myanmar and was killed by
locals, probably at Aurangzeb's behest. Dara had been killed brutally and
publicly.
Shah Jahan
was jailed in a small room in Agra Fort where he spent his last eight miserable
years. Aurangzeb did, however, display his human side once by not doing away with
the mullahwho refused to invoke Islamic sanction for all his acts.
The path
Modi has traversed in his ambition to occupy the prime minister's chair has
marks of the same cool calculation at each step and the same ruthlessness
towards anyone standing in the way.
Modi got
around Atal Bihari Vajpayee's admonition of not observing Raj-Dharma during the
Gujarat riots of 2002, by getting Lal Krishna Advani's support. Now Advani is
isolated in his own party. He may have to flatter Modi to retain his Gandhinagar
Lok Sabha seat.
Keshubhai
Patel was also Modi's patron once; one gets to hear little of him any more.
Political, rather than physical, elimination is the democratic method of
dealing with friends turned adversaries.
Aurangzeb
had punished a few who had turned to him opportunistically; Modi is happy to
see several of his senior Gujarat officers jailed for carrying out fake
encounters. Modi's administrative response to the Gujarat riots has always
raised several questions about his politics. Any remorse? No, strong men have
no remorse.
Aurangzeb
was hard-core Muslim at heart, believing in the supremacy of his religion,
reveling in promoting communal animosity. He was willing to make small
concessions to Hindus. He demolished the Kashi and Mathura temples and erected
mosques on their foundations. He also gave land and monetary grants to temples,
including Varanasi's Viswanath, and Hindu monasteries.
The Placebo
Effect
As his
conflict with Shivaji grew more fierce, he resorted to granting more and more
Mansabs (military ranks, official posts) to rival Maratha groups. Indeed, the
number of Hindu Mansabdars under Aurangzeb was the largest.
Hate Them, I
Love Them...
Modi has
left no one in doubt where his heart lies: in hard-core Hindutva, imbibed well
from the RSS. Yet, he would bend even the RSS to cater to his ambition.
Realizing that India was bigger and more complex than Gujarat and ignoring
Muslims would harm rather than help him, Modi's camp has suddenly decided to subsidize
the distribution of skull caps and burqas among such Muslim men and women as
are willing to be seen in his rallies.
Democracy is
open to variations. Even his language at the rallies has taken a turn, placing
poverty rather than Muslims as the chief enemy. Cool calculations and
ruthlessness of purpose define Modi as much as they did Aurangzeb.
(Courtesy:
Professor Harbans Mukhia)
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