A large number of people in South Asian countries favour a role for religious leaders as against politicians in major decision-making in their country, at a time when all the countries in the region have democratically-elected governments.
According to a report titled ‘State of Democracy in South Asia’, while in Pakistan more than half the respondents favoured the involvement of religious leaders in place of politicians in crucial decision-making, over one-third took this stand in Sri Lanka, and around one-fourth endorsed this position in Nepal, Bangladesh and India.
The survey report, which enumerates the opinions of 18,576 citizens in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, has been brought out under the aegis of the Global Barometer Survey and conducted by Lokniti, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, and Jain University, Bengaluru.
The support for a role for religious leaders in highest among the Muslims across countries of the region, says the report.
“It can be a matter of debate whether this represents a lack of faith in the political class or a positive endorsement of religious leaders,” said the recently-released study.
In Pakistan, minorities such as Hindus and Christians favour a role for the religious leaders. In Sri Lanka, the support for a role in decision-making for religious leaders was not just among the Sinhala Buddhists and Muslims but also among the Christians and Hindus.
Rising polarisation
The report said, “Support for religious leaders reflects is not so much a vote of confidence in their credentials but a clear frustration with the political class. The increased religious polarisation that societies in countries of South Asia were witnessing in the recent past might have also contributed to this unconscious assertion of faith in the capacities of religious leaders.”
In fact, “it is a rare moment in South Asia today when all the countries in the region have democratically elected governments.”
Non-elective institutions
The report noted that non-elective institutions enjoy high levels of trust across the region. In India, the Army continued to be the most trusted institution (57% of respondents), followed by judiciary (36%). In India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, more people tended to distrust the police. In India, 23% of respondents have low trust while 20% of them have no trust.
“The trust deficit is indicative of the low levels of confidence among the people that they would secure justice and fairness at the hands of the police,” the report says. A higher degree of trust in Army and judiciary could be owing to the insulated way in which they function. Citizens watch their functioning from a distance, often the ‘non-transparent’ nature of their functioning, the report said.
More than half of the respondents in the region had no trust or very low trust in political parties and this saw an increase since the first round of the study in 2005 (SDSA Report I). In India only 10 % of respondents have high trust in political parties, 27% have medium trust, 26% have low trust, 24% of respondents have no trust and 13% have no opinion at all.
While 28% of respondents have no trust in Nepal, 26% in Sri Lanka, 18% in Bangladesh, 17% in Pakistan. “The crisis of credibility of political parties in South Asia continues,” the report said.
In three countries of the region — Pakistan, Bangladesh and India — religious minorities tended to have greater faith in the judiciary as compared to the religious majority community.
