‘Wipe away the remaining signs’ : Hindu nationalist assemblage politics and the Christian other in Goa

Abstract

This article analyses the consolidation of Hindu nationalist politics in the Indian state of Goa, with a particular emphasis on political transformations occurring over the last decade. Unlike in many other parts of India, where Indian Muslims have been cast as the prime ‘antagonistic other’ of Hindu nationalism, the article shows how in Goa it is Goan Christians who have increasingly come to occupy this position. This argument is substantiated through an analysis of recent Hindu nationalist mobilisations centred on anti-Christian tropes and issues. Building on this, the article suggests that Hindu nationalism in contemporary Goa may be understood as a form of assemblage politics that is highly attuned to the local context and coarticulates with regional histories, circumstances, and symbolic registers. This politics, crucially, advances through a flexible alignment of organisations, institutions, and actors across the political and civil society divide, effectively connecting mainstream and so-called ‘fringe’ Hindu nationalist groups in the pursuit of a shared political mission across scales.