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Nusswan
The Prime Minister of India is never referred to by name in the novel, but she is strongly implied to be a lightly fictionalized version of Indira Gandhi, who held office during the same time period the novel takes place in and also oversaw a real period in Indian history known as the Emergency. Prime Minister rose to power during a hopeful period in Indian history, a couple of decades after the country declared independence from Britain. But for many in the novel, particularly lower-class characters, Prime Minister’s time in power is a time full of corruption and oppression, in which goondas and other criminals hold power and authority figures like the police are corrupt. In the novel, Prime Minister represents the failure of the Indian government during this time period to live up to its promises to most citizens. The decision to end the novel after the assassination of Prime Minister (which, as in real life, led to riots) shows how the early promise of an independent India has turned into something more complicated.
Prime Minister Quotes in A Fine Balance
The A Fine Balance quotes below are all either spoken by Prime Minister or refer to Prime Minister. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 3 Quotes
“We’ll go as soon as we mark our ballots,” said Narayan. “It is our right.”
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Chapter 6 Quotes
“He played with them like brother and sister,” he wept. “All three were like my children. And now this. I’ll kill him.”
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Chapter 12 Quotes
In the corner, in the hollow where coal fires used to burn for cooking in the old days, lay three brown and white kittens. A chorus of tiny miaows greeted Dina and Maneck as they bent over to look.
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Epilogue Quotes
“You haven’t guessed? I am a Sikh—I shaved off my beard and cut my hair two days ago. But I’m still wearing my kara.” He held up his hand, displaying the iron bangle round his wrist.
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Prime Minister Character Timeline in A Fine Balance
The timeline below shows where the character Prime Minister appears in A Fine Balance. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
...near the tracks. Someone wonders whether it has anything to do with the Emergency that Prime Minister mentioned in a recent speech on the radio. Ishvar, Omprakash, and Maneck learn that they’re...
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Chapter 2
...textile warehouse and tells her that she’s found two tailors. Mrs. Gupta is happy because Prime Minister has put several of her opponents in jail. She believes in discipline. Dina takes the...
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Chapter 4
...without tickets are uncommon—people seldom get arrested because the jails are already too full with Prime Minister ’s enemies.
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Chapter 5
Avinash tells Maneck he read in the newspaper that Prime Minister was accused of cheating in the last elections and was supposed to step down. People...
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Chapter 6
...and give them a snack in order to ride the buses to a meeting with Prime Minister , he is tempted to go. Rajaram says everything the bus drivers say is a...
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Prime Minister appears onstage in a white sari with some other officials. When Prime Minister speaks, there’s...
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...was about them missing the previous day. She scolds Omprakash and Ishvar not to let Prime Minister take them away again, but secretly, she is desperate to keep her two employees. Later,...
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Chapter 9
Dina learns that Nusswan is a big defender of Prime Minister ’s policies and thinks that death is what many people in the slums deserve. Dina...
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Chapter 16
...says that the law profession has become a joke ever since the Supreme Court made Prime Minister ’s illegal actions legal.
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Epilogue
Maneck has heard that Sikh bodyguards assassinated Prime Minister three days ago, but he wasn’t aware of the riots against Sikhs that have followed....
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...Farokh used for packing things and starts reading them. He reads a bit about how Prime Minister was out of office for a while but came back. He then finds one about...
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