A recent survey, conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) has found that at least 91 per cent Hindus have a close friend among their own community and only 33 per cent of Hindus count a Muslim as a close friend.
While 74 per cent Muslims have a close friend among Hindus, 95 per cent of them have a close friend within the community.
The survey highlights that the community identities continue to hold sway over people in deciding who they trust.
According to a TOI report, the survey was conducted to probe “society and politics between elections”. It 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 13 per cent Hindus think of Muslims as “highly patriotic”, the figure is better for Christians at 20 per cent Hindus favouring them in the similar category and the percentage is 47 per cent for Sikhs.
The report suggests that 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, among others.
Nearly 72% were found to possess “majoritarian” attitudes while 17% have “weak liberal” attitude and merely 6% with “liberal” attitude.
