Chapter 2B: Aga Khan and Basheshwar Nath were friends of the British. So much so that pretty much every Viceroy of Britain in every country was a business partner of BashesharNath. Bakshish in India was inherited from the British.
While most Indians took Bakshish, BashesharNath doled out Bakshish. Houses, horses .. and even helicopters. In 1930s, a helicopter was a gift like no other. Bashesharnath wanted Bhutan to remain as a buffer between India and Tibet. This was his safe harbour. And for that he needed to be in the good books of the Wangchuk dynasty. So when he went to wish the King for his birthday in 1934 – he took along a helicopter as a gift. But what is most interesting is that he got the British to pay for his gift saying a friendly and stable Bhutan was in everyone’s interest.
No one ever understood why ? Or how ? But the British did not ever annex Bhutan. And the British Bhutan agreement then became the Indo Bhutan agreement.
The Aga Khan got thoroughbreds for British officers and send them jewellery. They were all friends. When Edwin Lutyen came to build New Delhi, he was a house guest of Bashesharnath at 15, Barakhamba Road. The gardener served him lychees and guavas grown in their kitchen garden using tissue culture. Across the road was Modern School which Sardar Shobha Singhs family had sponsored. Shobha Singh’s family had built the Sujan Singh Park, India Gate and Modern School. His grandson Khushwant Singh had redefined satire.
Modern School was built diagonally opposite Bashesharnaths house. This was to ensure perfect vastu. So the north east was vacant. Next door was the Gujral family. Their son IK Gujral was to became the Prime Minister. And across the road was an unlucky plot number 13. This was gifted to Arya Orphanage which my IIT Kanpur friend Gyanesh Choudhary and his family run.
The point I am making is that neither the Aga Khan nor Basheshwar were going to get on the wrong side of the British govt. They were looking for a deal. Not a fight. One wanted his own Muslim nation. The other wanted to expand his business. For him there was nothing personal about war. It was just good for business.
Subhash Chandra Bose !!!! Well it seems his funding was refinanced by the British. His job was to go east and infiltrate the Japanese. Which he did. Best of all – both Aga Khan and Basheshwar Nath loved horses. And gambling.
In 1908, Bal Gangadhar Tilak had formed the Rupee Bank in Pune. A few years ago I tried to explore revival of the bank. That didn’t work out but I got to see something that stood out.
When Tilak was tried for sedition in the middle of World War I, Bashesharnath was approached for funding the freedom movement. He declined but hired a lawyer to help. Tilak was acquitted. That lawyer was Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
It wasn’t about the lawyer. He had tried and failed in the past. Someone had managed the judge.
These were not freedom fighters – they were ultimate insiders.
