Sikhs preferred Cong to BJP in 2019, most consider religious diversity to be good for the country | Chandigarh News

Jalandhar: Sikhs preferred Congress over BJP in 2019 election, ‘Modi wave’ was visible in only two seats and Sikhs are more likely than other religious communities to view communal violence as a very big problem in the country alone. These are the findings of the recent US-based Pew Research Center report, “Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation”.
“The BJP attempted to financially compensate Sikhs for some of the violence that took place in 1984 after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, but relatively few Sikh voters (19%) say they voted for the BJP in the 2019 parliamentary elections. The survey found that 33% of Sikhs preferred the Indian National Congress Party – Gandhi’s party, ”the report notes.
The survey results match the Punjab poll patterns in the 2014 and 2019 elections, when the Modi wave only ran on two Hindu majority seats in the Punjab – Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur – and Sikh voters played a role. crucial role in securing Congress eight of the 13 seats in 2019 as they were also angry with Shiromani Akali Dal for the issues of sacrilege and dismissal from the police in 2015.
“At the same time, Sikhs are more likely than other religious communities to view communal violence as a very big problem in the country. Almost 8 in 10 Sikhs (78%) see community violence as a major problem, compared to 65% of Hindus and Muslims, ”notes the Pew report.
The report made another interesting discovery about the attitudes of Sikhs on passing on the tradition of keeping their hair uncut to their children and their political leanings. Sikhs who say they voted for the BJP in the 2019 legislative elections are much more likely than those who voted for Congress to say that Sikh children should keep their hair uncut (81% vs. 56%). Of those who voted for Shiromani Akali Dal, a Sikh party, 65% say it is very important for children that their families keep their hair long, the report said.
He says that about three-quarters of Sikh men and women in India prefer long hair (76%), and two-thirds say it is very important to them that children in their family keep their hair long as well ( 67%).
“Caste is also linked to attitudes on this issue. While 76% of Sikhs in the general category say it is very important for their children to have long hair, 59% of those in lower castes advocate this point. vue “, adds the report on the publish.
Guru Granth Sahib’s cases of sacrilege relegated the SAD to third place in the 2017 legislative elections and the ruling Congress is now threatened for “failing to do justice in these cases.” The Pew survey found that the vast majority of Sikhs (94%) consider their holy book to be the word of God, and many (37%) say they read it or listen to recitations of it every day.
He also noted that “Sikhs are more likely than Indian adults in general to say they attend religious services every day – 40% of Sikhs say they go to gurdwara every day. By comparison, 14% of Hindus say they go to the temple every day. ”
Sikhs are proud to be Punjabi and Indian
The Pew Report states that 77% of Sikhs in India live in Punjab and represent 58% of the state’s population, 93% of Sikhs in Punjab say they are very proud to live in the state and 95% of Sikhs say they are very proud to be Indians. . Most Sikhs see no evidence of widespread discrimination against their community – only 14% say Sikhs face a lot of discrimination in India, and 18% say they have personally experienced religious discrimination in the past. year, the report notes.
Sikhs have the most negative view of partition
“Of the six major religious groups in the country, Sikhs have the most negative view of the role partition played in Hindu-Muslim relations: almost two-thirds (66%) say it was a bad thing.
Top considering that religious diversity is good for India
“The majority of Sikhs (60%), Muslims (56%) and Jains (55%) say that religious diversity benefits India. Meanwhile, less than half of Buddhists (46%) and Christians (44%) take this position.
Sikhs lead to believe “many can be true religions”
The predominant view among Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists is that “many can be true religions” and 55% of Sikhs expressed this view. The Jains are roughly evenly divided on this issue. However, Muslims have the largest share who take the “My religion is the only true religion” position (51%).
Sikhs more likely to find common ground with others
In general, Sikhs are more likely than others to say that they have a lot in common with all of the groups interviewed in the survey. 23% say they have a lot in common with all other religious groups, compared to just 11% of Hindus who see common ground with all five groups. While 52% of Sikhs say they have a lot in common with Hindus, while only 20% of Hindus say the same of Sikhs. In the North, one in five Hindus say they have worshiped in a gurdwara. Sikhs are most likely to say they have a lot in common with Muslims – 36% of Sikhs say this, but the majority opinion (55%) is that they are very different from Muslims (55%).
To stop interfaith marriages
The report notes that most Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Jains strongly support stopping interfaith marriage. 58% of Sikhs say it is very important to prevent men in their community from getting married outside and 59% hold this view for Sikh women. Muslims come out on top of this opinion, 76% think men should be prevented from doing this, 80% say women should not enter into interfaith marriages.