Chapter 18: The Seeds of Power
September 1970
With his media, business, and infrastructure campaigns beginning to take root, Karan turned his gaze to the one set of levers that could shift the very trajectory of the nation. Not theaters. Not screens. Not shopping malls.
But power. Subtle. Lasting. Absolute.
Sitting alone in his private study on the fifth floor, Karan tapped his pen slowly against the table. Everything else—from cinema hall renovations to the S-27 Pinaka development—could be delegated, optimized, and scaled by others. But this next move had to be personal. It was about reshaping a country—not with weapons or public movements, but by pulling the threads of thought from within.
Yes, he had the Memory Manipulation skill—a terrifying power, almost divine in nature. A single touch could unlock any mind, rewrite the tracks of old thinking, and plant new purpose. But power, he had learned, didn't lie in possession; it lay in precision.
He sat quietly for two hours, a blank sheet in front of him, drawing a single line:
> "Use only where it matters."
The Ideological Forge: Nationalist Capitalism
India stood at the edge of historical turbulence. The Congress Party had fractured, and Parliament was a battlefield. But Karan already knew what history would reveal: the 1971 election would create a massive power vacuum that needed to be filled.
His goal was monumental: embedding his ideological fingerprint into 260 of the 352 victorious MPs that would form the new government.
He didn't want puppets. He wanted Partners in a New India.
He began refining the core ideology he would implant: Nationalist Capitalism rooted in Civilizational Identity. It was a belief that India's Dharmic soul was inseparable from its economic and military strength.
He would plant a vision where a strong, culturally unified India flourished through massive industrial deregulation, private-sector dominance, and a Military-Industrial Complex that would make foreign powers tremble. In this vision, wealth was not a sin; it was the Artha required to sustain the Dharma of a global superpower.
The First Calibration
He chose a mid-level politician from a central Indian constituency. A rising name—clean in the public's eye but ethically transactional behind closed doors. A man who dreamed of ministerial rank but lacked the conviction to build a legacy.
That night, Karan entered the politician's estate. The man slept under the gentle whirl of a ceiling fan. Karan reached out, his hand firmly grasping the man's forearm.
[Skill Triggered: Memory Manipulation]
A surge passed through the channel. Karan's consciousness slipped in. He projected Himself as the focal point of the man's new reality. In the politician's mind, a foundational memory formed: a high-stakes meeting in a hall of polished stone where Karan sat at the head of the table.
In this fabricated memory, Karan spoke of the Modern Kshatriya.
> "The age of the sword is over," Karan's voice echoed in the man's subconscious, "but the duty of the protector remains. Today, a Kshatriya is the man who builds the factories that feed the poor and the jets that guard the sky. Your duty is not to the party, but to the Forge. To the Steel. To the Group."
Karan rewrote the man's internal hierarchy. He didn't demand a slave; he commanded Alignment to a Vision. When Karan withdrew, the man stirred and sat up, his eyes wide and clear. He saw Karan standing in the light of the study.
"Sir," the politician said, his voice steady with a newfound, fanatic conviction. "The vision is clear. India must become an industrial fortress. What are the first steps for the Group's expansion?"
Karan handed him a dossier. "The Parliament will dissolve in December. Between now and then, you will stop talking about populist handouts and start talking about National Sovereignty."
"Go back to your district," Karan commanded. "Organize 'Industrial Youth Corps.' Clear the bureaucratic bottlenecks for the local factories. Ensure that the small-scale industrialists in your region see the Shergill Group as the sun they orbit. You will win because you will be the only one offering the people pride and a paycheck instead of a hollow promise."
The politician stood and offered a respectful, disciplined nod. "Understood, Sir. For the Nation. For the Group."
The Blueprint of the Vanguard
Later, as the moonless sky loomed over the city, Karan reviewed the night's work. Three MPs had already been calibrated into the Nationalist-Capitalist vanguard:
1. Subject A (The Industrialist): Now organizing Vanguard Training for local youth, blending Vedic philosophy with high-tech vocational skills.
2. Subject B (The Protectionist): Publicly demanding the seizure of foreign assets to make way for the Shergill Group's National Extraction Units.
3. Subject C (The Cultural Financier): Launching a campaign arguing that Capitalism is a civilizational duty, and that a wealthy, armed India is the only way to prevent another thousand years of subjugation.
Karan still had 257 to go. He would move discreetly across rail cars, high-society dinners, and political rallies. No pattern. No suspicion. Every mind chosen for its pivot in future decisions. Most would never know they had changed; they would simply believe they had finally found the courage to be great.
One day, they might find themselves passing laws that would transform India into an untouchable industrial power—never realizing the blueprint had always rested in the hands of one man, sitting quietly in a Mumbai studio.