The Auranagazeb syndrome

The former prime minister of India P.V Narasimha Rao talked about the "Aurangazeb syndrome" which basically described the shitty situation during Aurangazeb's rule and how it applies to India of the 1990s. During Aurangazeb the Mughal empire was at the height of its power, stretching from Afghanistan to Assam and from Kashmir to Bangalore. But the empire was in decay. There were rebellions all over the place, in Deccan, golconda, Western ghats, Bengal, present day pakistan and so on. There was tremendous changes in the social fabric with the dominance of the muslim rule being challenged everywhere. The British were slowly becoming strong although they were crushed by Auragazeb in a skirmish. The centralized Mughal empire won every battle but totally lost the war. In 20 years after Aurangazeb's death the empire was a small shadow ruling no more than the city of Delhi.

The same situation was somewhat prevalent in the 1990's India with terrorism in Kashmir and Punjab, Maoists in central India, LTTE in Tamil Nadu, Terrorism throughout the north east, stagnating economy and increasing population growth. There were external problems from Pakistan getting nukes from china, the fall of the Soviet Union, gulf war and the worst of all the foreign exchange crisis and the IMF diktats. Thankfully India survived such a precarious position mostly due to the brilliant strategic thinking by bureaucrats and the PM PV Narasimha Rao. But congressism as usual denies him the true position he deserves in saving India from becoming Africa.