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Proceedings of National Seminar on Postmodern Literary Theory and Literature , Jan. 27-28, 2012, Nandedhuman society. It is failing of respectingminority culture can create ethnic violenceand confrontation. It aims at minimizingcultural differences. The west have acceptedthe policy of promoting tolerance andrespect for minority culture. Canada, whichis one of the multicultural nation, hasaccepted multiculturalism as an officialpolicy and accept its diversity andmultiplicity. It widens the horizons of ourlife and its vision. By acceptingmulticulturalism, one can overcome theproblems of social conflicts, discrimination,racism, caste, gender etc. It also controlsgender related tolerance. It challenges thehegemony of single dominant culture.Rajeev Bhargava (2002:100) states:Multiculturalism brings togethera number of distinct themes suchas identity, recognition, culturalbelonging, which all respond tocommon human needs but areunderstood and dealt withvariously in different society.Western countries haveacknowledged the necessity of being multireligiousand multi-ethnic. It puts all groupsunder single umbrella with different colorsof language, religion, race, nationality andcommon cultural markers.Multiculturalism also avoidsreligious conflicts. It does not allow anyreligious friction in society. Besides, it helpseach religion’s religiosity intact. It removessocial marginalization, dispossession andexclusion of minority culture.Multiculturalism society is a developedsociety. It is a learning society. The variousculture and groups learn new thing throughhealthy interaction. The principle of equalopportunity supports both majority andminority. Socio-cultural harmony is themain aim of multiculturalism society.Multiculturalism allows to give certainprivileges i.e. the Sikhs in Canada andEngland are exempted from wearinghelmets. Even in India the constitutionensures religious practices of communitiesand grant privileges to the minority groups.Protecting diversity leads towards culturalhybridity. It brings variety in human life. Ittries to empower the weaker section ofsociety. Indian constitution has played avital role in promoting the value ofmulticulturalism, which brings the people ofdiverse religions, cultures and backgroundtogether.The social aspects ofmulticulturalism depicted in the IndianEnglish fiction. The social structure of Indiais built with inequalities. If we see largely,then the social stratification exists almost inall societies. It is depicted by writers. TheIndian constitution provides an institutionalstructure and principle that allow diversepeople to live as citizens of India. Itrecommends the idea of secularism,religious freedom, non-discrimination andequality. The constitution promotes the basicprinciples of multiculturalism, as India inthe world most complex and pluralisticsociety, it has vast variety of caste, tribes,communities, religions, languages, customsand lifestyles. We can say that Indianconstitution and multiculturalism goes handin hand. As a social ideologymulticulturalism upholds the values of socialequality, non-discrimination and upholds theprinciple of inclusiveness andaccommodation. It denies the dominance ofone culture over the other and protects theidea of equality and opportunity and rightsto minority and weak culture. To clarify theaspects, the present paper briefly focuses theidea of multiculturalism depicted in MulkRaj Anand’s Untouchable and ArundhatiRoy’s God of Small Things i.e. Mulk RajAnand’s novel Untouchable does not reflectthe idea of multiculturalism. It reflects therigidity of Indian caste system, whichdivides people on the basis of colour,occupation and the wrong notions of purityand pollution. Mulk Raj Anand sufficientlybuilds up the atmosphere of inequality andexploitation in his works. Through his work,he has suggested that multiculturalismpromotes the co-existence of diversecommunities and culture and recognizescultural diversity as inescapable reality inevery human society. Anand wants to show463 PLTL-2012: ISBN 978-81-920120-0-1
Proceedings of National Seminar on Postmodern Literary Theory and Literature , Jan. 27-28, 2012, Nandedthat multiculturalism ensures that allmembers of a society, regardless of theircaste and religion, have equal opportunity toreach their full potential with dignity andrespect.Regarding Indian society thatdisturbs the peace and solace, are the aspectslike economic marginalization, socialexclusion, deprivation and isolation withreference to some classes. Due to economicmarginalization, some individuals or groupsare totally excluded from the economicopportunities. It generates the adverseatmosphere, in the terms of human rights,deprivation, poverty and isolation. Anandhas shown poverty as one of the reasons ofdesolation and misery. The writers likeMulk Raj Anand has exposed the grimrealities of the social life in India. In theseregard C. J. George (2000 : 19) Comments:To Mulk Raj Anand castism isan age old lie made by thepowerful and wicked in societyto uphold discrimination. Hisprime concern as a social criticis to remove caste system as itdamage social cohesion bygiving certain section of societyan unfair advantage over otherspermanently.However, the dominant culture’ssocial control over power structure remainsconstant in India. The dominant cultureexploits the minority culture and deprivesthem of their social, cultural, economic andpolitical rights by using the notions likepurity and impurity. Mulk Raj Anand andother fiction writers have depicted how thegap between dominant and minority cultureremains a social curse and how does itobstruct the promotion of multiculturalism.Besides castism, economic discrimination,gender discrimination also obstructmulticulturalism, it increases socialrestriction on women. How the conventionalways of life, class, gender discriminationand imposing of patriarchal culture crateproblem is depicted strongly in ArundhatiRoy’s The God of Small Things Roy’sprotest in The God of Small Things springout from her sense of the slave like status ofwomen in free democratic India. Themarginalization of women is not a specificbut a global phenomenon. It differsaccording to regions. Arundhati Roy offers akind of directioin to change the status ofwomen in the Indian society. So the novel isnot only a story of Ipe family, but also of thedisempowered section of Indian society. It isstory of men and women, who have beenneglected as the “margins” of society, andwho have to pay heavy price for the same.Throughout the novel, Ammu is shownconscious not of her sexuality, but of heremotional needs. As a subordinate andmarginalized women, she is even notallowed to persue her studies. Indeed,multiculturalism demands equal opportunityfor all culture, castes, communities andgenders. Human society needs culture thatrespects all other castes, communities andgenders equally. The policies ofmulticulturalism have been violated to someextent. Multiculturalism is a very flexibletheory, that promotes cultural coexistenceand mutual respect to all communities andcastes irrespective of their differences anddistinctiveness. Irrespective of culture,subculture, caste and community, everyindividual has his/her own birthright toenjoy his/her free life. Life is a gift thateveryone gets by God. So respecting of eachother’s culture is respecting of eachindividual. By handling the theme of intercaste love affair, Roy tries to highlight theneed of a casteless and peaceful societywhere everybody’s interest should beprotected and respected for strengthing ofthe principle of democratic multiculturalism.Disrespect of any culture, creates socialunrest. Sometimes the multicultural policyin India gets disturb due tomisunderstanding of caste stigma and socialstructure based on class culture and religion.Although it is so it is our duty asconscious individual and citizens of India torespect the Indian constitution and theprinciple of multiculturalism. So thateveryone could get a space to stand witheach other with equal dignity and to breath464 PLTL-2012: ISBN 978-81-920120-0-1
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