TRAGEDY OF BHOPAL IN LITERARY IMAGINATION: INVESTIGATING ENVIRONMENTAL AND HUMANITARIAN CRISES IN INDRA SINHA’S ANIMAL’S PEOPLE AND ARUNDHATI ROY’S THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS

Authors

  • S. M. Ishmam Alam Lecturer, Department of English, Pabna University of Science and Technology, Pabna, Bangladesh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejls.v6i2.651

Keywords:

Bhopal, environment, nationalism, neoliberalism, disaster

Abstract

This paper looks into the literary elucidation of the aftermath of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, one of the most cataclysmic industrial disasters, through engaging with Indra Sinha's Animals People and Arundhati Roy's The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. The Bhopal disaster, which happened due to the negligence of the corporate and neoliberal apparatuses, wreaked a dreadful despoliation in Bhopal; it caused over 3,000 instant deaths and over 25,000 deaths in subsequent years, resulting from the gas exposure. The novels under scrutiny deal with this traumatic historical event and investigate its frightful consequences from both ecocritical and humanitarian perspectives. Through the maimed protagonist, Animal, Sinha attempts to bring the Bhopal victims to the forefront, who still wrestle with excruciating illness and several forms of deformity that are not yet treated with seriousness and care. Worst of all, Sinha lamentably shows how aggressive nationalism and hideous internal power politics stand as barriers to fighting the subsequent ecological disasters, jeopardizing any hope for a better future. Similarly, Roy has also depicted the precarious vision of existence in Bhopal, where human beings are even deprived of “clean water” and “medical care”, without getting any slightest help from the authority and the media. Through the juxtaposition of Roy and Sinha's novels, this paper illustrates the manifold ways in which literary creativity can engage with environmental and humanitarian plight, providing nuanced insights into the long-lasting impacts of such tragedies on individuals and society at large. Furthermore, the paper also brings to the fore how these two fictional representations deal with issues of environmental deterioration, corporate or neoliberal negligence, and governmental apathy towards Bhopal’s toxic legacy.

 

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Author Biography

  • S. M. Ishmam Alam, Lecturer, Department of English, Pabna University of Science and Technology, Pabna, Bangladesh

    S. M. Ishmam Alam is Lecturer in the Department of English, Pabna University of Science and Technology. He has a Bachelor and a Master’s degree (thesis) in English Literature from the University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Previously, he worked as a lecturer in Varendra University, Rajshahi, for almost three years. His areas of interest include Literary Theory, New Literatures in English, Postcolonial Literature and Theory, and Cultural Studies among others. He has several academic publications to his credit, and has presented and participated in many international conferences.

    ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3118-0104

    Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/S-M-Alam

References

Alam, M. M. “Ecological Rifts as Disaster in Indra Sinha's Animal's People.” Studies in the Novel, vol. 55, no. 3, 2023, pp. 345-360. Tandfonline, Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02759527.2022.2158279. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

Donig, Deb. “Seeing double in Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People: Local Toxins, global toxicity and the universal Bhopal.” Journal of Postcolonial Writing 54(4): 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2017.1402808

Hannah, Bridget, Ward Morehouse, and Satinath Sarangi. The Bhopal Reader. Apex Press: 2005. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/The_Bhopal_Reader.html?id=HKpjAAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Jordison, Sam. “Booker Club: Animal’s People by Indra Sinha.” The Guardian, 8 Oct. 2007, https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2007/oct/08/bookerclubanimalspeopleby. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

Mandavilli, Apoorva (9 July 2018). "The World's Worst Industrial Disaster Is Still Unfolding". Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/the-worlds-worst-industrial-disaster-is-still-unfolding/560726/ The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2018.

Moore, Alexandra Schultheis. “‘Disaster Capitalism’ and Human Rights: Embodiment and Subalternity in Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People.” In Theoretical Perspectives on Human Rights and Literature, edited by Elizabeth Swanson Goldberg and Alexandra Schultheis Moore, 231–46. Routledge, 2011. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203805190-17/disaster-capitalism-human-rights-alexandra-schultheis-moore

Nayar, Pramod K. Ecoprecarity: Vulnerable Lives in Literature and Culture. Routledge: 2019. Retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/Ecoprecarity-Vulnerable-Lives-in-Literature-and-Culture/Nayar/p/book/9781032092614?srsltid=AfmBOorRriIoEmjRfuT9CS_H9fRM6mJiovPbi2ca0FrbibZ7h097ORAg

Nixon, Rob. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Harvard UP, 2011. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt2jbsgw

Roy, Arundhati. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Penguin Random House, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-ministry-of-utmost-happiness-9780241980767/extracts/1583-the-ministry-of-utmost-happiness

Said, Edward. Representations of the Intellectuals. Vintage, 1996. Retrieved from https://books.google.it/books/about/Representations_of_the_Intellectual.html?id=IWcRg3YQAsYC&redir_esc=y

Sahu, Smita. ‘The Emergence of Environmental Justice in Literature, The Criterion, 5:2 (2014): 547-551.Web. 16 Sept 2019. Retrieved from https://www.the-criterion.com/V5/n2/Smita.pdf

Sinha, Indra. Animal’s People. Simon & Schuster. 2007. Retrieved from https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Animals-People/Indra-Sinha/9781416526278

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Published

2025-10-13

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2025)

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Articles

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