Exploring Gender Inequality and Sexual Politics in Shashi Tharoor’s Riot: A Novel

Abstract

Shashi Tharoor's Riot: A Novel (2001) offers a profound exploration of gender inequality and sexuality. The novelist uses the milieu of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute to examine the subjugation of women and the clash between Western and traditional Indian attitudes toward sex and marriage. Through the characters like Priscilla Hart, an American volunteer in India and Laxman, the fragmented narrative structure highlights the intersection of personal relationships with larger socio-political forces the communal Indian society. This study also discusses how Tharoor critiques both domestic communal tensions and the influence of Western perspectives on India's internal affairs. The females are often marginalized, controlled, or subject to violence. Through a postmodern narrative, it depicts how they are treated as submissive objects while highlighting the contrast between traditional Indian and Western conceptions of sexuality. It juxtaposes the personal lives of its characters against the backdrop of political and communal upheaval. It highlights how gendered experiences are manipulated and shaped by cultural, social, and political forces. This research paper analyses the issues of gender inequality, sexual politics, and power within the context of communal tension, patriarchal structures, and crosscultural encounters in contemporary Indian society as represented in the novel. By analysing the characters, relationships and social ethos presented in the narrative, the study seeks to evaluate how Tharoor critiques patriarchal attitudes and reflects the complexities of gender and sexuality within a culturally diverse and conflict-ridden society.