There was once a Sultan by the name of Mohammad bin Tughlaq who ruled the Delhi Sultanate for almost 25 years and is particularly famous for his follies. He built the 4th capital Jahanpanah, while wanting to consolidate all that had previously existed. He wanted to build this great wall which joined Mehrauli, Siri and Tughlaqabad, with Jahanpanah. This was the dream of his new capital. To fund the same, he imposed new tax laws which burdened the economy. People had to do multiple jobs to pay taxes and fend for themselves. Delhi, famous for its craftsmanship, began to lose the intricacy of its ingenious art because of the burden on the karigars. Trade hence started to decline. The Sultan, then introduced demonetization wherein silver coins were replaced with copper ones, an unsustainable decision that destroyed the economy even more. He then introduced new farm laws on the fertile Indo Ganges plains, which burdened the agricultural ecosystem so much that it led to famines and droughts. This was the time when Ibn Batuta was in Delhi and had been appointed as the royal mufti, inspite of having no formal qualifications for the same, just on the basis of his having completed the Hajj. Finally, his most drastic decision was to shift the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad, a migration which took so many lives that Daulatabad was converted into a huge graveyard. Subsequently a deadly epidemic also broke out, killing many. In the midst of this, the Sultan restored the capital to Delhi. The return journey was the last leg of devastation, which further spread the epidemic, claiming more lives. At the end of all this, when the Sultan looked at Delhi from the terrace of his Fort, he could see a desolate land, stretching across what was once as prosperous a city as Baghdad and Samarkand. Today, when I look at our current scenario and the ongoing activities such as the Central Vista project, GST, demonetization, revised farm laws, and finally the handling of the pandemic, I wonder whether history is repeating itself or is it just my misapprehension! Amazing click 📷 by 👉 @rish_st 👈 #Follow 🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹 . 👉🏻 Double Tap if you Like 💓💓