"India is a Hindu nation in the cultural sense. A Catholic in Goa is also Hindu culturally because his practices don't match with Catholics in Brazil except in the religious aspect, a Goan Catholic's way of thinking and practice matches a Hindu's," Parrikar said in an interview to New York Times' India blog published Wednesday.

Parrikar heads a state where the Catholic population is just under 30 percent of its 1.5 million population. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded an unprecedented eight Catholic candidates out of the 24 assembly seats the party contested.