HIGHLIGHTS
Representative image
If the figures point to “walls of religion” in cultivating relationships, they also reinforce the belief that community identities continue to hold sway over people in deciding who they trust.
A Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) study to probe “society and politics between elections” has found that maximum number of Hindus and Muslims have noted people from their own religion as close friends. The study also highlights what it calls “isolation of Muslims” across four states of Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka and Odisha where the survey was carried out.
At least 77% Muslims consider their own community as “highly patriotic” but just 26% Christians see Muslims in the same light on this sensitive scale and the number is much lower at 11% among Sikhs. Interestingly, only 66% Sikhs consider Hindus to be “highly patriotic”.
The data also reports a high level of “majoritarian” attitudes. People were categorised as “liberal” and “majoritarian” on the basis of response to queries – should the government punish those who don’t respect the cow; don’t say ‘bharat mata ki jai’ at public functions; eat beef or cow meat; do not stand up for national anthem; or engage in religious conversions? Nearly 72% were found to possess “majoritarian” attitudes while 17% have “weak liberal” attitude and merely 6% with “liberal” attitude.
The mapping of trust among institutions has yielded a known fact – that Army enjoys the highest level of trust among people. In stark contrast, police, political parties and govt officials languish at the bottom of the trust pile.http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/only-33-of-hindus-count-a-muslim-as-a-close-friend-survey/articleshow/58018664.cms
April 7, 2017 at 4:19 pm
This indicates the partisan attitudes of hindu community. However there are many secular hindus who value the friendship of muslims like any others