Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Corruption, Political Violence, and Capitalism
Resilience and Hope
Gender Identity, Social Division, and Coexistence
Social Hierarchy vs. Social Inclusivity
Religion and Power
Summary
Analysis
Biplab never did check into the rehabilitation center he was supposed to attend, but he has gotten sober. Nonetheless, his wife has left him, and his daughters won’t speak with him. He lives the life “of a recluse,” “binge-reading” instead of returning to alcohol. Specifically, his reading is all of the documentation Tilo has left behind in her old apartment, where he now lives. After reading so much about the Kashmir conflict, the bureaucrat has changed his mind about the whole thing, although no one knows about his opinion. If he “came out” as pro-Kashmir, he thinks, he could create a political storm, for after years of peace, Kashmir has “exploded again.” But this insurgency is different from those of the past. Ordinary people rather than militants are attacking the Indian Army. Children are throwing stones at tanks.
Biplab’s change of heart suggests that he has recognized the extent to which the Indian government’s violence in the Kashmir region is wrong and unjust. The nature of the Kashmiri rebellions that are occurring in the current moment is vastly different from the violent militant insurgences of the past. That ordinary people would have the courage to stand up to soldiers suggests that the Kashmiri people have become even more resilient over the course of the years, even in the face of increasing violence.
Themes
Through his reading, Biplab has discovered that Musa has been active in the resistance, and is thrilled when one day, he hears the key turn in the lock and Musa walks into the apartment. He and Musa’s meeting is tense at first, but soon the two men relax and get to talking politics, with Biplab eager to convince Musa that he is “no longer the enemy.” Biplab admits to having taken Musa’s documents from the freezer, but offers to let Tilo pick them up whenever Musa wants them.
The two men’s reconciliation after so many years suggests that collaboration between people of different backgrounds is possible. While Biplab may be overeager in trying to prove himself to Musa, the fact that he, a wealthy Brahmin, is willing to side with the oppressed suggests that greater unity between castes and regions of India is possible.
Themes
After chatting for a while, Biplab asks Musa what he is dying to know: why he and Tilo had so many documents about Major Amrik Singh. “Did you kill Amrik Singh?” he asks Musa point blank. To this, Musa replies that Amrik’s address had become public when he was arrested in California for assaulting his wife. After that, other Kashmiris who had asylum in California read the news, and began to turn up everywhere he went. Coming face-to-face with the mass suffering he had wrought caused the major to kill himself. Like Major Singh, Musa tells Biplab, Kashmir will one day call all of India to “self-destruct.”
Major Amrik Singh, it seems, went through a similar crisis of consciousness as Biplab. Both seem to have recognized that their actions on behalf of the government were wrong, but, perhaps because Major Amrik Singh’s cruelties were so extreme, when he realized how many lives he has destroyed, he couldn’t handle it. The fact that he killed himself suggests the inevitability of good winning over evil; although the Indian Army has killed millions of Kashmiris, the resilience and continued survival of the Kashmiri people will force them to live with what they have done. And, if Major Amrik Singh is any example, it’s possible that the Indian Army will not be able to live with it and will be forced to discontinue the cruelty.
Themes
