Theme of Violence in Sahgal’s Storm in Chandigarh

Abstract

NayantaraSahgal is one of the most representative Indian-English novelists of the twentieth century. She is aprolific writer. She has to her credit nine novels, two biographies, two politicalcommentaries and a large number of articles, contributions to variousnewspapers and magazines. She is a recipient of the prestigious SahityaAkademi Award for her novel Rich Like Us.Sahgal is perhaps theonly Indo-English woman novelistwho is also a political columnist.Shemakes a point of keeping in touch with the latest political controversies andher writings are often presented in the best tradition of
western liberaljournalism. As a novelist her contribution to Indo-English fiction lies in writingnovels that mirror faithfully the contemporary Indian political scene. The Storm in Chandigarh is one of Sahgal‟s best political novels. It deals with the problem of political tension and violence between the Haryana. The novel depicts violence, chaos and the uneasy political situation of the late sixties in the partition of Punjab into two newly formed states- Punjabi-speaking Punjab and Hindi-speaking Haryana with Chandigarh as the common capital. The present research paper is an attempt to explain
the theme of violence enriched by Sahgal in her novel Storm in Chandigarh.