New Delhi: India belongs equally to all of its citizens, Hindu or otherwise, more than three-quarters of respondents to a countrywide survey by the Lokniti programme have said.
When asked if they thought India belongs equally to citizens of all religions or if it belongs to Hindus alone, 79% of Lokniti’s respondents choose the first option, while 11% chose the second. One in ten respondents did not indicate an opinion.
Lokniti found that more respondents between 18 and 25 years of age indicated a pluralist view (81%) than those aged 56 years and above (73%).
College-educated respondents had higher shares of those picking the pluralist option (83%) than respondents who did not go to school (72%).
Fewer Hindus picked the pluralist option (77%) than did Muslims (87%) or respondents of other minority religions (81%), while residents of towns were more likely (85%) than city-dwellers (84%) or those living in villages (76%) to indicate a pluralist view.
Lokniti is a program conducted by the Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. It conducted a pre-election survey between March 28 and April 8 among a total of 10,019 respondents spread across 100 assembly seats in 19 states.
The results of its survey are being published in The Hindu.
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