And you know if Todarmal has a dialogue then I have to be part of the party! 🥳
There were five things I liked (so let's do a mini-take 5):
1. Jalal did not succumb to immediate pressure and wanted time to discuss with his courtiers
2. There was actually a meeting of courtiers and they had a good discussion with multiple perspectives
- Maulvis brought in the religious perspective - that if they were Muslims they did not have to pay the tax
- Sharuffidhin brought the perspective of what they needed the revenues for, e.g., wars
I am surprised Maan Singh did not bring the perspective of Rajput rules but ah well ...
- And then Todarmal ... well he gets's a separate bullet. Ah and this is where my President-E-Khaas role comes to play 😉
3. Todarmal's arguments were balanced ... he acknowledged it was a challenge to Hindus but also a necessary revenues 👏
Except he did not think of one thing which is alternative revenue sources, e.g., expanding a lower income tax across the entire community, improving collection of taxes through land reforms-which I believe were actual things that were done
Also, he failed to make the argument he made with the pilgrimage tax that increased stability and less revolts would reduce expenditures and increase revenues of the Sultanate in the long-run.
I have a high bar for you Todarmal ... though I loved whatever little you said today. 😳
4. Jodha as always stood for what she believed in ... and she did provide her perspective on the pilgrimage tax as well. Her support for the poor woman and bringing the issue to Jalal were bang on.
I would say her dialogues were weak - with the "Hari Hui Hindu." I did not remember her saying any such thing in the pilgrimage tax ... but she still got her point across tactfully, "How would you feel you had to pay a tax because of practicing your religion?" Where was that nuance today?
And, she was clearly contradicting herself - she told Jalal that she was paying the taxes to due her duty and not to pressurize him ... but she was clearly disappointed at the outcome with Moti.
Why did she not give Jalal the time he asked for before pressurizing him and that too publicly and corralling all the Hindu servants?
But, otherwise, Jodha was consistently in character.
And I would say Jalal's dialogues were weak in this scene as well- I was excited when he started to say that "think of it from my perspective" ... I thought he was going to talk like a Shehenshah with a policy problem ... but nope he was thinking of an insult as a husband if she paid the tax 😆
5. Birbal's one argument I liked ... when he brought the poor Hindus for conversion as it got to a bit of the issue, is it a revenue problem or a religion problem? Because if it is a revenue problem, then all the Hindus converting to Muslim will result in the same revenue problem ... and then there is the point of injustice that Birbal himself brought up.
And that, should have been what the tarazu was between ... it is a trade-off between revenues / strength of the Sultanate's resources and equality across the public ... as it is not necessarily a trade-off because you can consider a lot of different sources of revenues as alternatives - which I believe the Mughal Sultanate did and Todarmal did do reforms related to tax reform.
And while I typically I like tarazu scenes ... I felt that was the scene where things went completely awry ... because the balance suddenly went to Jodha vs. Ruqaiyya point of view and not allowing Jodha's defeat ... when that was not the issue at all.
This has to do with justice to all religions and a revenue problem! And Jalal and Birbal seems to have forgotten that.
What has happened to the CV team? I can't imagine that this was the same team that handled the pilgrimage tax so beautifully - where there was actual investigations, drama (with Jalal arrested), Jodha providing input in such a balanced, nuanced way, debates in the DEK, and an ultimate decision was made.
I guess this is what happens when Economics and Policy go the TRP way! 😆
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