Chapter 3D: The Aga Khan was the most socially astute of the three. He was a lethal combination of royalty and prosperity. And he had something, the other two did not.
He was GOD. As a direct descendant of Mohammad, he were revered by the Ismaili community from whom he could collect tax. This was his recurring income. It is believed that every working Ismaili contributed to 5% of their earning to the Aga Khan Trust. In addition, the Aga Khan had personal income from private properties, investments and the hidden “purse” from his European financiers.
He was losing the race to both his competitors. BN had his business cash cows under various proprietorship firms. But now he was setting up these promoterless joint stock companies which seemed to be doing very well. Laxmi Insurance was cash filled. And New Bank of India was collecting deposits. It was also acquiring a slate of smaller banks using cashless all stock acquisitions. The “others” group had developed a really frugal method of selling hate. It was called non violence. It was based on the Adolf Hitler playbook of selling hatred. Find someone to blame for your misery and then get the masses to shout for their blood. The “Jew” propaganda had made Hitler the Chancellor of Germany. The “anti British” propaganda had made the Congress relevant. They were getting mass support from the poorest of poor who believed anything.
The Aga Khan had two challenges. First he had to increase the size of the Ismaili religion. It was a puny 3-4 million people. How much tax could he extract. Second he had to globalise because his followers in undivided India were not particularly affluent. There wasn’t a single Ismaili who had the wealth of a BN, Tata or Birla.
Aga Khan shifted to Europe leaving an institutionalised Muslim League to pursue the agenda of creating its own nation. His financiers catered to the aristocrats. He had to get into the inner circles of Europe. To do that, he started pursuing women from the aristocratic families – with pedigree but not too much cash flow. He bought the costliest of jewellery from Cartier to woo them:
Finally he got married to Andree who was chasing wealth in a wedding ceremony in Bombay which lasted seven days. It was a show of his strength among the British leadership. BN presented him with an exquisite blue sapphire from Kashmir but did not attend.
And this marked the entry of the Aga Khan into the innermost circles of aritocratic Europe. He was now His Holiness the Aga Khan of India. A prince who was GOD.
He built Imamtaras around the world. These were not like traditional mosques. His followers did not do namaz five times a day. He encouraged white wives – and multiple numbers. Wealthy Muslims saw a role model in him.
He was now President of the League of Nations. Which then became the United Nations.
He had arrived.