Apart from winning over this Hindu conservative voter, the other aim of the hyped bikini outrage campaign by the MGP could also be to undermine the leadership of Chief Minister Parrikar, who appears to have virtually gagged on the bikini.
While the smaller and ultra conservative MGP can afford to make anti-Westernism its political plank, in the absence of ideas more worthwhile that will catch people's imagination, the more mainstream BJP which has several Christian legislators and has banked on the minority vote bank in the 2012 assembly poll, simply cannot, at least in the same brazen manner.
Parrikar is caught in an even tighter bind because he and his party cannot afford to be seen as openly pro-liberal either, for fear of losing the Hindu conservative vote, also eyed by the MGP. Over the last two months, the bikini-inspired, pro-conservatism controversies have taken a toll on the authority, as well as his liberal, modern image which the IIT-educated Parrikar is keen on otherwise projecting.
