Everything's Right in Goa: Hardline Hindutva on rise in India's party capital

Panaji: Traditionally, it’s slumber season here. But this monsoon, Goa, especially its politicians are uncharacteristically busy. Never has the state, otherwise known politically for its trademark, but bizarre, petty defections and musical chair-like ousting of chief ministers, inspired national headlines for two days straight for hardline politics and communally coloured news, like it has in the last two months, which interestingly coincides with Narendra Modi’s elevation as prime minister. [caption id=“attachment_1639105” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AP[/caption] Otherwise an insignificant speck on the national mainstream news radar, Goa in this time has dished out, news-wise, a seductive, but inflammatory Molotov cocktail of two cabinet ministers who are thrilled at the idea of a ‘Hindu state’, demands for a bikini and mini-skirt ban and ruling politicians claiming to ideological affinity to Pramod Muthalik, best known for ransacking a pub in Mangalore to Goa, arguably known as national capital of pubs and bars. (Note: Co-operation minister Deepak Dhavalikar (MGP) had claimed that Modi could lead India into becoming a “Hindu Nation”. Deputy chief minister Francis D’Souza (BJP) had later insisted that India was already a “Hindu Nation” and that he was a “Christian Hindu”. Reeling under public and media pressure following their statement both have claimed their comments were misunderstood) In the same period, two Facebookers also find themselves at the receiving end, with the police booking them in separate offences, for accusing Modi of masterminding a possible holocaust and circulating a morphed photo of a cabinet minister who demanded a bikini ban in a pink bikini. A hate-speech complaint against Muthalik, demanding that Hindu’s arm themselves with swords and Bhagwad Gitas, has been rejected by the state police, who claimed to have found no merit in the complaint) Social commentators as well as politicians off and on record, do not hesitate to say that conservative political parties, especially the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) with these hardline comments, are actually trying to appropriate Goa’s hardline voters, who have emerged from a socio-political churning fuelled during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. “The Lok Sabha elections saw a polarisation of the Hindu and Christian votes. These noises made by the BJP and the MGP are signs of a battle for the hardline Hindu voter, who accounts for around 20 percent of the total Hindu votes,” Nationalist Congress Party vice president Trajano D’Mello told Firstpost. Christians account for a sizeable 26 percent of the state’s population, where a majority are Hindus. And while the BJP had been trying to be cozy with the influential Roman Catholic Church and Christians in the recent past, a stinging circular issued by the Church against Modi and Parrikar (while the circular did not name the two, it was indicative enough) during the campaign phase, forced the party to alter its campaign mid-course. The Congress used the circular to try and herd together its minority votes, especially in the Christian stronghold of Salcete sub-district, often considered a key to electoral victory in the South Goa Lok Sabha seat. The party however lost both its seats. On the flipside however, the circular was also spoken of amongst conservative Hindu voters, as an unprovoked attack on its leaders, especially when the newfound relationship between the party and the Church had been mutually beneficial in the recent past. For the millions of tourists that flock to Goa every year, the horizon is limited by the sea on one end and the palm-fringed beaches and shacks on the other. But away in the hinterland, where the rivers aren’t saline and temples, not churches or chapels dot the countryside, in towns like Bicholim, Ponda, Madkai, Priol, is a significant Hindu conservative vote, for whom a demand for a bikini-ban or a Hindu Nation chorus is considered very elementary and a logical argument. “We should credit him. He has the guts to speak about protecting our culture we should all back the minister,” said Swami Brahmeshanand in a specially televised address on 10 July, after Deepak Dhavalikar’s brother and PWD minister Sudin Dhavalikar demanded a ban on bikinis and mini-skirts. The seer has a strong following amongst the Bhandari samaj, which accounts for more than 30 percent of the state’s Hindu population. And in the 2014 general elections, it is this voter, along with which could have climbed a notch on the hardline ladder. A majority of the socially elite and influential Hindu castes like Goud Saraswat Brahmins, which chief minister Manohar Parrikar belongs too, have already put their lot behind the BJP. His call for a ban on mini-skirts and bikinis actually received public support in these parts, with some civil society groups and women’s organisations openly backing the minister. “There is definitely a strong conservative Hindu trait in Goa, especially in areas such as Ponda, etc, where these guys come from. For instance, I remember that some women came out supporting the ban on mini-skirts,” says Samir Kelekar, an IIT-Mumbai alumnus, who ran a campaign a couple of months back to protest against police harassment of a Facebooker for posting anti-Modi comments. Some, like Congress spokesperson Durgadas Kamat call such political positioning as poisonous as a “black-necked cobra spitting dangerous venom”, but others like Cleofato Countinho, a lawyer and a political commentator say the Dhavalikar is only trying to keep the hardcore fringe elements on their side. “To my mind, the comments are (like a) bargaining chip. They are attempting to rally fringe elements as pressure tactic,” says Coutinho. Noted lawyer and state secretary of the Communist Party of India (MP) Thalmann Pereira says that these provocative comments, like those made by Sudin’s brother and Goa’s Co-operation minister Deepak Dhavalikar, who on Thursday advocated a march towards a ‘Hindu Nation’ under Modi, do have a polarizing effect, because the “Hard Hindutva” appeal is directed at the Hindu Bahujan Samaj in Goa. Perhaps clearer picture about Goa’s seeming tryst with hardline Hindutva will emerge when the monsoon clouds give way to a clear winter sun in a few months.