Perhaps Nehru’s most damning blow was to pronounce Aurangzeb too Muslim to be a successful Indian king: ‘When Aurungzeb began to oppose [the syncretism of earlier Mughal rulers] and suppress it and to function more as a Moslem than an Indian ruler, the Mughal Empire began to break up.’ For Nehru, Aurangzeb’s adherence to Islam crippled his ability to rule India.
