Political and Feminist Vision: A Critical Reading of Githa Hariharan‘’s In Times of Siege

Abstract

Githa Hariharan, a leading novelist of our time is an astute observer of cultural, political and historical realities of India.  Her strong social and political commitment also finds expression in her social activism. She emerges as a writer with political consciousness in her novel In Times of Siege. If the novelist is asked why she had to write In Times of Siege the answer would perhaps be similar to why she had to go to court challenging the law that a mother could not be the natural guardian of her children unless the father is dead. It was only because of Githa Hariharan that in the“history of women’s legal right in India, the court ruled that the mother would undoubtedly be the natural guardian according to the Indian Constitution.” *¹ Similar is the way with Shiv Murthy, the hero of the Githa Hariharan’s novel In Times of Seige who rejects the threats of fundamentalists. In fact by keeping history as the foundation of the novel the author wants to show that fundamentalism and extremism can be a major threat to academic freedom along with civil society. Hariharan has very skillfully fictionalized the theme of false nationalism, prejudiced ignorance and intellectual intolerance in the nove