Television and Temples: Hindutva and OBC and Adivasi Self-Making in Borderland Gujarat

Abstract

This paper describes how Kolis—who are an OBC—and Adivasis in Gujarat negotiate and are constituted by militant Hinduism. Once the anchor of a secular political coalition, the political personhood of Kolis has shifted since 2014. The television complex and temple-building activities of Hindu chauvinism create a context in which identification with Brahmanical Hinduism, a vegetarian normativity, and distancing from Muslims transpires. However, the Hindutva-identifying subjectivity is fractured. Adivasi self-making resists temple cultures and caste Hinduism and asserts non-vegetarianism. Some Kolis’ affective relationalities with Bhakti saints and critiques of temple-going suggest that oppositional potentialities to Brahmanical Hinduism are always present.