Demonetisation: Tughlaq and Nadir Shah Are Back in the News

PM Modi is being likened to Tughlaq and Nadir Shah. We turn to our history books to check if the claims are valid.

Nadir Shah(L) and Mohammadib Tughlaq. (Photo: The Quint)

Uri baba. While attacking the demonetisation drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been likened to Muhammad Bin Tughlaq and even Nadir Shah, the greatest plunderer of all, by the opposition.

While Congress leader Manish Tewari called Mr Modi Tughlaq, fellow party veteran and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad termed the PM’s leadership style.. ahemm.. a bit ‘dictatorial’.

The decision has been taken in haste. This is Nadir Shah’s kind of law and this doesn’t take place in a democracy... but certainly takes place in dictatorship. We have been seeing dictatorship for the last two-and-a-half years but we saw one glimpse of that day before yesterday.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress Leader and Leader of Opposition

Not a New Thing for Mr Prime Minister

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Photo: AP)

This isn’t the first time a senior Congress leader has likened a political rival to a power-crazed leader, though: Arvind Kejriwal too had been called Tughlaq earlier by Mr Azad. But the demonetisation move carried by Modi has brought upon him some really vicious barbs, not just from Congress and Co, but also in editorials by respected papers like The Hindu Business Line.

Also Read: Mamata to Chidambaram: How Politicos Reacted to Modi’s Rupee Move

So What Did Nadir Shah and Tughlaq Do?

A painting of Nadir Shah. (Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons)

So, here’s the thing: Nadir Shah went on a 58-day looting spree in Delhi in the year 1739 - when he took from Delhi’s nobles, its people and its emperor Rs 70,00,000, as well as the Peacock throne and the Koh-i-noor diamond leaving behind death and destruction everywhere.

Also read: 50 Days Not Enough, 4 Months Needed to Replace Demonetised Notes

Cash crunch is not equal to looting, for sure! But plundering the rich coiffeurs of those with black money, yes, that’s something the govt will have us believe.

Also read: PM Modi, Your Team Erred in Separating Demonetisation From VDIS

BTW, it’s no coincidence that in 1735, Nadir Shah had devalued his own currency, making the double paisa coin into a single paisa coin, and ordering money lenders to store no more than 50 mahmoodis in their shops, and even punishing them if they dared to flout the law.

Later, not satisfied with the results of the devaluation, he even issued new coins but the result of that was that it made common commodities more expensive.

In fact, even though he was a mighty ruler, Nadir Shah’s strained relations with the Iranian aam junta—because of his harsh fiscal policies—resulted in major rebellions across his empire that he responded to brutally, before he was assassinated in 1747.

Tughlaq’s Fiscal Failure

Muḥammad ibn Tughluq. (Photo: History Discussion. Net)

Tughlaq, the 14th-century sultan of Delhi invited the wrath of public fury, most famously when he shifted the capital of his kingdom from Delhi to Daulatabad, some 700 miles away, without any consultation, and just as randomly, shifted it back- a costly exercise which resulted in the death of many commoners.

Another one of his legendary blunders was to introduce representative or token money, called tankas - a revolutionary and bold move for the time - but one that failed miserably due to poor implementation.

Tughlaq introduced copper and brass coins that could be exchanged for fixed amounts of gold and silver. Just like it does to you and me, this looked like a lucrative deal to forgers too, which resulted in a large number of fake coins. Because of the fear of forgery, the currency was withdrawn within eight days. Tughlaq was assassinated soon after.

Let’s hope Modi’s grand demonetisation policy, on which he has staked his political career, doesn’t meet the same fate as that of the men he is being likened to.

(Sources: The Hindu Business Line, The Hindu Business Line, Times of India, Swarajya, The Monetary History of Iran: From the Safavids to the Qajars, Britannica)