Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq: a historical perspective

The name Mir Jafar characterises a crass traitor, who changed the history of the Indian subcontinent and has become the symbol of betrayal. He is arguably one of the most hated figures of Indian subcontinent notably in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh because driven by his greed and ambition, he went against his own people and helped the British to rule India for around 200 years.

Western readers may identify Mir Jafar with Benedict Arnold, a senior American military officer, who served during the Revolutionary War. Fighting with valour and distinction for the American Continental Army, Benedict Arnold rose to the rank of Major General before his ravenousness drive for pelf got the better of him and he defected to the British side of the conflict in 1780, although General George Washington had given him his fullest trust and had placed him in command of West Point in New York.

Arnold was planning to surrender the fort there to British forces, but the plot was discovered in September 1780, whereupon he fled to the British lines. In the latter part of the conflict, Arnold was commissioned as a Brigadier General in the British Army, and placed in command of the American Legion. He led the British army in battle against the soldiers whom he had once commanded, after which his name became synonymous with treason and betrayal.

Mir Jafar started his career as a soldier in the army of Alivardi Khan, Nawab of Bengal. Due to his cunning mind and diplomacy, he won the trust of Alivardi Khan and earned the position of Commander. Alivardi Khan married his niece with Mir Jafar.

It was the ambition of Mir Jafar to become the Nawab of Bengal for which he was willing to go to any length to achieve his malfeasant aim. Mir Jafar planned to kill Alivardi Khan to usurp the throne but the plot was leaked and Nawab Alivardi Khan was informed about the intentions of Jafar. Before the Nawab could take any action against Mir Jafar, he died of natural causes and his nephew Siraj ud Daulah succeeded him as Nawab of Bengal.

Bengal was one of the richest states in the world during those years and the British wanted to gain a foothold in the Indian subcontinent and also make use of Bengal’s treasures. Siraj ud Daulah was troubled by the fortification of Calcutta (Kolkata) undertaken without his permission by the British East India Company. The British governor of Calcutta (Kolkata) continued to defy his repeated requests to cease fortifying the city.

Convinced that the British would not comply, Siraj ud Daulah marched on the city, taking the English post at Cossimbazar along the way. Shortly after he arrived, on 16 June 1756, the governor, the majority of his staff, and several British inhabitants fled Fort William for the safety of English ships in the harbour. After putting up a weak resistance, the fort surrendered.

The British reinforced their position of power by plotting with Mir Jafar, Siraj ud Daulah’s general, to overthrow the Nawab. After alienating Hindu bankers and his army through bribery, Siraj ud Daulah was made a victim to their treachery at Plassey, where on June 23, 1757, Clive with an army of some 3,000 defeated the Nawab and his army of 50,000 in the Battle of Plassey. Siraj ud Daulah fled to Murshidabad, but he was captured soon and executed. The end of Nawab Siraj ud Daulah’s reign marked the commencement of British East India Company’s rule over Bengal and later almost all of India thanks to the treachery of one traitor.

Mir Jafar was installed as the puppet Nawab of Bengal but unhappy with his ineffectiveness, he plotted with the Dutch to overthrow British from Bengal. The British defeated the Dutch and Mir Jafar was overthrown from power.

Even his final resting place, located about a mile from the Hazarduari Palace, Jafarganj in the Lalbagh area of Murshidabad town, West Bengal, Mir Jafar’s ruinous palace is often referred to as Namak Haram Deorhi (traitor's gate).

Its significance is that the last secret conference was held here, before the Battle of Plassey, between William Watts, Mir Jafar and his son Mir Miran. Watts was chief of the Cossimbazar factory of the East India Company. Miran received Watts in one of the palace's seraglio, the sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubines of the ruler. Watts placed a copy of the Holy Quran on Mir Jafar's head and Jafar's hand on the head of Miran.

Then Mir Jafar swore with great solemnity that he would faithfully perform whatever he was told to do (i.e., to betray Nawab Siraj ud Daulah in the Battle of Plassey, which was to be held the next day, so that the British could win the battle and he would be dethroned from the throne of the Nawab of Bengal. According to Seir Mutaqherin, Nawab Siraj ud Daulah was murdered by Muhammad-Ali-Beg on the orders of Mir Miran in the campus of this Deorhi, after he was defeated in the Battle of Plassey.

After the murder, Siraj's mangled body was taken over the river and kept at Jafarganj for the night. The next morning, his body was placed on an elephant and paraded through the streets of Murshidabad and also past Siraj ud Daulah's mother, Amina Begum's house. Today, history revers Nawab Siraj ud Daulah as one of the greatest freedom fighters of India while Mir Jafar is considered as the most despicable and selfish character in Indian history who betrayed his own country, his people and his own relatives.

His betrayal was a big break for the British and they never turned back since the conquest of Bengal. Vast revenues from Bengal proved to be a boon for the British economy and the excess funds from Bengal were used for further expansion of the British empire. Mir Jafar had a miserable end as he was diagnosed with leprosy and died of overdose of opium, while his son Mir Miran who ordered Siraj’s murder died of a lightning strike.

Coincidentally, Mir Jafar's great-grandson, Iskandar Mirza, was appointed and served as the first President of Pakistan. He set a dangerous trend of military rule, when he imposed martial law against his own party’s administration governed by Prime Minister Feroze Khan Noon on 8 October 1958. Only 19 days later he himself was deposed by the military dictator Ayub Khan. A section number of Pakistanis still hold him responsible for the present political instability in Pakistan.

Another treacherous character from our chequered history is Mir Sadiq, who held the post of a minister in the cabinet of Tipu Sultan of Mysore.

In the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1798–99, he betrayed Tipu Sultan during the Siege of Seringapatam, paving the way for a British victory. He secretly killed many of Tipu's loyal and trusted officers and trapped the army behind locked doors. Before his “martyrdom,” Tipu Sultan was approached for a “disgraceful” compromise or surrender by the British, (the Hindu, May 5, 2014), which he declined in these words: “Single day in the life of a tiger is far better than that of 100 years of a jackal,” hence, the name: Tiger of Mysore. Sadiq was killed by some of the dismayed Mysorean troops immediately following the defeat as he attempted to go over to welcome the British.

This prompted the famous poet Allama Iqbal to render the couplet:

Jaffar az Bengal,Sadiq az Deccan; nang-e-deen, nang-e-millat, nang-e-watan which mean Jafar(Mir) of Bengal and Sadiq(Mir) of Deccan are a disgrace to the faith, a disgrace to the nation and a disgrace to the country.

Even today Mir Jafar is considered as the most despicable and selfish character in Indian history who betrayed his own country, his people and his own relatives.

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