{"id":8845,"date":"2021-07-20T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T17:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/for-most-of-indias-hindus-religious-and-national-identities-are-closely-linked\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T23:56:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T03:56:43","slug":"for-most-of-indias-hindus-religious-and-national-identities-are-closely-linked","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/07\/20\/for-most-of-indias-hindus-religious-and-national-identities-are-closely-linked\/","title":{"rendered":"For most of India\u2019s Hindus, religious and national identities are closely linked"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Artists
Artists create Hindu ritual artwork depicting India as a mother goddess holding the national flag and a symbol of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s Independence Day on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on Aug. 15, 2020. (Sam Panthaky\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At least since the Bharatiya Janata Party\u2019s (BJP) electoral victories in 2014, the term \u201cHindu nationalism\u201d has been frequently invoked in both Indian and Western media, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling party often described as promoting a Hindu nationalist<\/a> agenda. But there is no widely accepted definition of what the term means, and little data exists on how common Hindu nationalist attitudes are in India and how they vary across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new Pew Research Center survey<\/a> of nearly 30,000 Indian adults sought to measure multiple dimensions of Hindu nationalism<\/a> by asking people how important certain attributes or behaviors are to \u201ctrue\u201d Indian identity. This survey was conducted several months after the BJP\u2019s victory in the 2019 parliamentary elections and before the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

How we did this<\/div>