Thugs and pindaris

I received a telephone call just now from a relative who lives in North America. He asked me about the conditions in India.

I replied that conditions in India today are somewhat similar to the conditions during the rule of the later Mughals.i.e. after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 upto the deposition of the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, by the British in 1857.

During this period, the Mughal 'Empire' had shrunk to Delhi and its vicinity, and it was said :

' Saltanat-e-Shah Alam
Az Dilli ta Palam '

i.e.

' The Empire of Shah Alam is from Delhi to Palam '.

During this period morals had descended to a very low level. For instance, the Queen of the Emperor Muhammed Shah Rangila ( who ruled from 1719-1749) was having an affair with the head eunuch Javed Khan, while the Emperor himself was involved with a dancing girl, which is reminiscient of our friend Sandeep Kumar's frolics. Morality in India today has gone down to the lowest level, with corruption, fraud, sex scandals, etc everywhere.

During the reign of the later Mughals thugs and pindaris wandered around the whole country creating terror and panic.

The modus operandi of thugs, who were criminal gangs, was to join travellers on a road, win their confidence, and then strangle and rob them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee

Similarly, nowadays, Indian politicians behave like thugs, and try to please the public with all kinds of promises before an election, but after the election loot them.

Similarly, pindaris were irregular horsemen under a leader who plundered the countryside

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pindari

Most of our leaders, bureaucrats and policemen are no better than pindaris and thugs.

Altogether, a dismal scene, and it is going to get worse in the times to come