IIRC, the Sepoy rebels tried to get Bahadur Shah Zafar to be a figure Indians could rally around. Being the last of the Mughal Emperors, descended from the line of Timur, he could certainly have been a potent figure. However, he was a quiet poet and completely disinterested in any such ideas.
Let's say the Emperor turns out to be an ambitious man waiting for a chance to reclaim the legacy of Babur, and he enthusiastically gets behind the Indian rebellion. What could come of this?