The red sandstone Mughal fort where the Diwani was extracted from Shah Alam, and where the Company was finally dispossessed of its empire – a much larger fort than those visited by tourists in Lahore, Agra or Delhi – is still a closed-off military zone. When I visited it late last year, neither the guards at the gate nor their officers knew anything of the events that had taken place there; none of the sentries had even heard of the Company whose cannons still dot the parade ground where Clive’s Diwani tent was once erected.
