It is extraordinary how more than 100,000 upper caste Hindus from eastern UP and Bihar by origin, chose to come to the Mughal emperor, a Muslim and asked him to lead them in this uprising. To me, this was also something which had been underplayed and it seemed very important to emphasise the centrality of Delhi and the centrality of the Mughal and the myth of the Mughal in the historiography of 1857.

SHEKHAR GUPTA: There is a contradiction because the symbolic ruler for whom they were fighting was a Muslim...

But then again, significantly a Muslim who is regarded by the jihadis and the extremists as not quite a proper Muslim. Because he celebrates Hindu festivals, because he has a Hindu mother.

What you see very strongly is this urge among the court and the city elite for there to be no question of a division between Hindus and Muslims throughout the uprising. And the court and elite and sepoys all go to huge efforts to maintain a common front.

For reasons both of taste within Zafar’s own very pluralistic outlook and for reasons of realpolitik, there is going to be no rebellion if the fracture on religious lines is allowed to grow. He hits into action and the danger is averted. What is interesting though is the speed with which after 1857, as the British focus their revenge on the Muslim community, who they hold responsible for the uprising, and very quickly the myth grows among the British that this is a Muslim driven conspiracy. And in the prosecution of Zafar there is talk, which again obviously rings very resonant today of an international Muslim conspiracy running to Mecca and Tehran, and bogus evidence is produced to bolster this in court. It is the Muslims who are blamed by the British.

... contd.