Narration of Nation in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

 

• Introduction

    Man Booker Prize-winning author for her debut novel ‘The God of Small Things’ in 1997, pens almost after twenty years her second fiction entitled ‘The Ministry of Utmost Happiness’ in 2017 which received wide critical acclaim for its subject matter.

    How does one narrate a fragmenting nation? Much of postcolonial fiction grapples with the failure of the postcolonial nation-state to deliver on the promises of democracy and the betrayal of the people by the anticolonial nationalists who quickly turned into postcolonial dictators. From Chinua Achebe and Ngugi Wa Thiongo to Salman Rushdie and M.G. Vassanji, postcolonial writers have grappled with this question (TICKELL).

    The Ministry of Utmost Happiness articulates a nation’s history from the perspective of the marginalized. Anjum, a hijra, and Saddam Hussain, a Dalit, and Tilottama, a maverick young woman. and it is through the tales of these characters Arundhati Roy presents the failure of Nation-state.

     Her present novel deals with varied contemporary issues of ‘Modern India’ like “the matter of the hijra communities, the rise of Hindu nationalism, the struggle for Kashmiri independence, the plight of caste discrimination, the impact of rapid industrialization on the environment and the effects of globalization on society”.

    Even though it is a fiction, it depicts the crude reality of contemporary India. Roy uses lots of allusions to satirize various people and ideologies of our time. There are few Indian writers who through their work try to depict the injustice and inequalities in our society. If the writers are writing about the negative sides of the nation, then we have to learn to accept that this is the greater process of self-examination and to become a better society such kind of self-criticism is very essential. It is appropriate to quote here the words of Arvind Adiga that “"At a time when India is going through great changes and, with China is likely to inherit the world from the west, it is important that writers like me try to highlight the brutal injustices of society," he said, adding that the criticism by writers like Flaubert, Balzac and Dickens of in the 19th century helped England and France become better societies. "That's what I'm trying to do - it's not an attack on the country, it's about the greater process of self-examination," the writer told Guardian (The Newswire).

 

     Much of the western European history conditions us to see human differences in simplistic opposition to each other: Dominant/subordinate, good/bad, up/down, superior/inferior, Male/Female. We are habituated to think in binaries only. This systematized process of oppression automatically creates someone as superior and others as dehumanized inferior. So, one can’t imagine the condition of doubly marginalized transgenders. these characters are mostly torn between two worlds- male- female, love-hate life-death and so on (Raina) There is a very narrow space for the queers in Indian literature and India is never a utopia for the transgender (Raj). Aftab / Anjum is 'hijra' in the novel, so through his/her character, Roy is presenting the plight of transgender in the Indian community.

     Apart from this, environmental decay is also a significant issue that can be pondered in novel. Supriya  Mandal in an article entitled 'An Analysis from  the  Perspectives of  Postcolonial Ecocriticism  of Arundhati  Roy’s   The  Ministry  of  Utmost Happiness" writes that The  Ministry  of  Utmost  Happiness draws  out  the  issues  of  the deteriorated condition of  river  due  to construction of  dams  and   the  sewage  system  of   industrial  wastages, the ‘otherness’ of animals, birds, fishes  and trees  and  their  easy exploitation,  the  wiping  out  of  sparrow, vulture  from  biodiversity due  to excessive scientific  manifestations,  the  predicament of  zoo  animals,  the  abolition  of the forest for  the steel  and mining  factories  and the uselessness  of  nuclear  testing etc.  The author unravels that most of the environmental dilapidations are the result of Euro-American ideology of ‘development’ project which is a disguised form of neo-colonialism and imperialism (Mandal).

     Novel has many allusions like The Emergency of 1975, Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the anti-Sikh riots, 9/11 attack, 2002 Gujrat Riots, Narmada Bachao Andolan, the unrest in Kashmir, Maoist insurgency, atrocities against Dalits, the rise of the gau rakshaks, the saffron wave, Modi's ascendancy (he's referred to as "Gujarat ka Lalla"), the anti-corruption brigade of Anna Hazare, the advent of Arvind Kejriwal and that entire movement  of 2011, state election and general Election of India, Una Violence,(mob lynching) issues with minorities etc. 

    Roy refers to The Emergency, 21month period from 1975 to 1977 that was imposed by Indira Gandhi. During Emergency the elections were suspended and civil liberties were curbed. At that time press was also censored and opposition political leaders were imprisoned. Public gatherings and meetings were restricted; the police had the right to search homes without a warrant and could arrest people without charges. The situation during the Emergency has been outlined in the novel as,

    Civil Rights had been suspended, newspapers were censored and, in the name of population control, thousands of men (mostly Muslim) were herded into camps and forcibly sterilized. A new law – the Maintenance of Internal Security Act – allowed the government to arrest anybody on a whim. The prisons were full, a small coterie of Sanjay Gandhi’s acolytes had been unleashed on the general population to carry out his fiat. (TMUH)

     Roy mentions to Bhopal Gas leak tragedy occurred at (UIC), Union Carbide India Limited (a pesticide plant) situated in Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh in India. The gas leak was so dreadful that it killed thousands of people overnight. Moreover, many people lost their eyes permanently, became disabled and affected biological deformation of the next generation also. A 2014  report in Mother Jones quotes a "spokesperson for the Bhopal Medical Appeal, which runs free health clinics for survivors" as saying "An estimated 120,000 to 150,000 survivors still struggle with serious medical conditions including nerve damage, growth problems, gynaecological disorders, respiratory issues, birth defects, and elevated rates of cancer and tuberculosis (Wikipedia)."[CEO of the company Warren Anderson was responsible for all these but it was believed that he was able to flee the country with the support from the politicians.

In the novel, Roy has used this incident as a backdrop. Novel shows people are still protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi for justice. Roy in this novel has given a voice to those who have been wounded, died and those who are still suffering due to the aftermath of Bhopal Gas tragedy. Anjum meets the group of fifty representatives protesting at Jantar Mantar demanding for justice, in the case. They are on the protest, with banners which say “Warren Anderson has killed more than Osama bin Laden” (TMUH). Roy here is comparing the accused Warren Anderson with the mastermind of September 11 attacks of New York, and in doing so, she is probably mapping the intensity of the tragedy which was much more tremendous and horrible than 9/11 attacks. By comparing the two accused, she is also highlighting the ‘little justice’ done to the victims of the Bhopal tragedy who are still suffering from its aftermath (Prashant Maurya).

The residents of “Khwabgah” in the novel, who are a thousand kilometres far from New York can be seen sharing the grief and sentiments of the people of the USA. “The usually garrulous residents of the Khwabgah watched (on TV) in dead silence as the tall buildings buckled like pillars of sand” (TMUH 40). The tall buildings here are a reference to World Trade Centre buildings. Everyone in the Khwabgah was watching the live broadcast of the burning down of the towers silently, with their mouth shut in great shock. In that prolonged silence the utterance of Bismillah, “Do they speak Urdu?” shows his disposition to associate himself with those trapped and losing their lives in the ablaze buildings. This incident in the USA had not only perturbed the United States but India also. The fictional characters of the novel are also no different from it (Prashant Maurya).

    In the novel Arundhati Roy refers to former Prime Minister Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee as The Poet Prime Minister. Immediately after 9/11 attack Govt. of India passed a law, POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) in 2002 which was also included in the novel.

     Roy also includes the incident of Godhra riots of Gujrat in 2002. The incident was such that few pilgrims were returning from Ayodhya in Sabarmati Express. The entire coach was set to fire and then riots break out in the state. Roy has efficiently situated Anjum and Zakir Mia in the riots. Both characters get trapped in the riots in Ahmedabad, which was burning in the fire of communal riot at that time. Roy delineating the situation during the riot in Ahmedabad writes that Muslims in Ahmedabad were attacked by a mob who were “armed with swords and tridents and wore saffron headbands” (Roy). So, in a way by putting her characters amidst the riots, Roy is criticizing the dark episode in the history of the nation.

     Arundhati is very critical of current prime minister Narendra Modi, whom she refers in the novel as ‘Gujrat ka Lalla’. Even former prime minister Dr Man Mohan Singh is also criticized as “Maun Mohan Singh” meaning “Silent-Mohan Singh” because of his reticent nature. The novel shows him as just a puppet of someone. And that someone is actually Sonia Gandhi. Kejriwal, the current Delhi Chief Minister is referred as Mr Agarwal.

 

In 2011 The Anti-corruption Movement led by Anna Hazare was the centre of attention of the entire Nation. On 4 April 2011– Anna Hazare started the ‘fast to death’ at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, demanding the government to draft and pass the Jan Lokpal Bill to fight against corruption. The country was tired by series of scams including 2G scam, Coal mine distribution scam, Commonwealth games scam etc. so in Delhi, there was a huge protest against the corruption, which was joined by many people including bureaucrats, film stars, some politicians etc. Roy includes this episode also in the story to show the darker reality of the nation.

Mob lynching on the name of cow protection is also one of the most debated issues of recent time. There are few instances which were the talk of the town and were in headlines that people got killed by a mob. Recent incidents include Dadri Mob lynching in 2015, 2016 Latehar Mob lynching case, 2016 Ahmedabad lynching case etc. where the mob has lynched the accused to death.

Roy projected the contemporary critical and sensitive socio-political issues of India. Under the covers of secularism and democracy how intolerance, racism, discrimination and injustice frequently practised. How people are slaughtered and innocents are buried in the dark (Raj). So in a way novel is a commentary on the crude sides of present Indian society, with the backdrop of real incidents like Bhopal Gas massacre of 1984, Gujarat riot of 2002, Kashmir insurgency, the plight of Kashmir Pandits, clash between the Muslims and Hindus  Maoist and Naxalite movements, problems of Adivasi’s and Dalits as well as other political, religious aspects, war, Capitalism, Nationalism and so on.

 

•  conclusion

Thus, we can say that Arundhati Roy is narrating a fragmented Nation in her novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Mandal, Supriya. "An Analysis from the Perspectives of Postcolonial Ecocriticism of Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness." The Criterion: An International Journal in English 9.2 (February 2018).

Prashant Maurya, Nagendra Kumar. "Political overtones and Allusions in Arundhati Roy’sPolitical overtones and Allusions in Arundhati Roy’sThe Ministry of Utmost Happiness." Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 10.3 (2019). PDF. 14 8 2020.

Raina, jaaved Ahmad. "Transgender Marginalization and Exclusion”: A study of Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness." The Creative Launcher (n.d.).

Roy, Arundhati. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Gurgaon: Penguin Random House India, 2017. Print.

The Newswire. "My book highlights brutal injustices of India: Adiga." 16 10 2008. PDF. 13 8 2020. <https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/my-book-highlights-brutal-injustices-of-india-adiga/621065>.

RAJ, SUSHREE SMITA. "A STUDY ON ARUNDHATI ROY’S “THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS." INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND TRANSLATION STUDIES (IJELR) Vol. 5. .Issue.2., 2018 (April-June) (n.d.).

TICKELL, ALEX. "Writing in the Necropolis: Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness." Moving worlds: A journal of Transcultural studies (n.d.).

Wikipedia. Bhopal disaster. n.d. 14 8 2020. <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bhopal_disaster&oldid=971888690>.