India@75 Survey: Patel, Bose seen as unsung; More credit given to Nehru, Gandhi

The survey was conducted in June and July to mark the completion of 75 years of India’s independence. This opportunity is useful to assess where the nation’s collective understanding of the freedom movement and nation-building lies. The respondents were asked to rate the role of five leaders—Nehru, Gandhi, Bose, Patel and BR Ambedkar—in the freedom struggle and nation-building as a way of assessing the nation’s collective interpretation of history. Many differences in perception were evident, especially along party lines.

The survey was jointly conducted by global market research firm YouGov, the Indian arm of Mint and Delhi-based think tank Center for Policy Research (CPR). This was the eighth in a series of bi-annual online surveys aimed at examining the aspirations, concerns and attitudes of India’s digital natives.

role and credit

For all five leaders, the share of respondents who rated their role as “important” or “very important” exceeded 50%. Bose and Patel got the most support, with over 70% of the respondents rated their role highly. For Nehru, this share was 52%, the lowest among the five leaders. On the other hand, 27% of the respondents felt that Nehru played a “small” or “very little” role in the independence movement and nation building.

The survey also asked respondents how much credit each of the five leaders got for their role. Here, respondents felt that Bose and Gandhi had captured the public’s imagination the most, but others were not far behind.

But partisan cleavage abounds

However, when both questions are considered together, political differences begin to emerge over the amount of credit to the leaders commensurate with their role. More than 50% of respondents believe that all five leaders have received their fair share of credit (this refers to giving a respondent the same rating on both “role” and “credit”). However, partisan lines are evident in those who regard leaders as more-credited (higher ratings for “credit” than “role”) or low-credit (higher ratings for “role” than for “credit”). I see.

To measure this, we looked at the average difference between the “role” and “credit” ratings each respondent gave. A gap of zero means that the respondent sees the leader as sufficiently credited. A positive value indicates that the leader is given less credit for their role, and a negative value indicates the opposite.

On average, respondents believed that Nehru and Gandhi were given more credit, while Bose and Patel were seen as significantly less credited. Ambedkar was on a more neutral point.

This sentiment is especially true for those who identify most with the BJP. While respondents from other parties such as the Aam Aadmi Party had a slightly less serious assessment, the direction of their responses did not change from that of their BJP counterparts.

Congress is the only party whose supporters have a different trend, most of whom feel that all leaders are given equal credit and respect. No significant difference was observed in the average ratings for role and credit by Congress supporters.

demographic segmentation

Considering the difference between role and credit rating yields some surprising as well as surprising results.

Indians of different age groups get more credit for Nehru and Gandhi and less credit for Bose and Patel. However, the divergence is most pronounced in the older age groups. Between Millennials and Post-Millennials, this difference narrows slightly, but the direction remains the same.

An analysis based on respondents’ primary media sources shows results contrary to popular belief that social media platforms or WhatsApp forwards are major drivers of polarizing views about historical leaders. Those who consume traditional media such as newspapers and TV news see Nehru and Gandhi with more credit and Bose and Patel as less credit.

The author is with the Center for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi.

This is one of six parts of a data journalism series based on the YouGov-Mint-CPR survey conducted to mark 75 years of India’s independence. read all parts Here,

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