Global-local dynamism in Arundhati Roy’s the Ministry of Utmost Happiness as counter-discourse on terrorism

This research analyzes the issue of terrorism as presented in Arundhati Roy’s novel’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. In the novel, terrorism is portrayed in multiple scenes through various perspectives such as the media, the government and the officer, the victim of terrorism, the bystander, and the member of the militant group. These novelistic representations can be analyzed as the global-local dynamism of terrorism and state terror. Apart from illustrating how the powerful states such as the US, and India perpetuate terror and abuse the discourse of terrorism, The Ministry appropriates the globally circulated cultural production such as historical narrative, news, songs, and poetry as forms of its counter discourse. By juxtaposing the description of terror and terrorism in India with the globally circulated cultural products, The Ministry complicates, problematizes, and subverts the mainstream discourse of terrorism in, for examples, the governmental speech, news, and movie, which arguably shape the public understanding of terrorism. For this reason, the novel functions as “literary activism” which attempts to communicate with the global readers. It encourages the audience to reconsider their assumptions about terrorism.