Yes to Temple, no to quotas

Three out of every five Delhiites (59 per cent) want a temple to be built at the disputed Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya.

In the course of gauging voters’ minds on the relevant issues of these assembly elections, the HT-CSDS Survey also sought to find out what they thought about some important national questions.

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We focussed on three issues which have been in the headlines recently: (a) Ayodhya, which was brought back sharply into focus by the VHP’s manouvres; (b) strikes, on which the judiciary gave judgments that generated a lot of debate; and (c) caste-based job reservations, which becomes a topic of discussion every time a government uses it gain political mileage. We found that Delhi has fairly clear views on two of these three issues.

Fifty-six per cent of the Capital’s residents want an end to the system of caste-based reservations in jobs. Thirty-seven per cent want the quotas to stay. Seven per cent don’t know or won’t say.

Nearly three out of every five Delhiites (59 per cent) want a temple to be built at the disputed Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya. Around one out of every four people (26 per cent) does not agree. Fifteen per cent do not have an opinion on the matter.

Opinion is split more equitably on the issue of banning strikes. A smaller group of 42 per cent wants them banned altogether; a somewhat larger group — 48 per cent — disagrees. One out of every 10 Delhiites has no opinion on this.

Educated voters and those in the ‘general category’ were the biggest supporters of a ban on job quotas. More than seven out of every 10 BJP voters want the temple at Ayodhya. But surprisingly, six out of every 10 Dalit voters too want the temple.