Amid the ongoing protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), various individuals and organizations have come to gauge the public sentiment with regard to the matter.
https://twitter.com/saikatd/
Polls being conducted on social media on #CAA_NRC_Protest are proving to be quite revealing (and some are now being deleted) pic.twitter.com/fmsWQlX2Br
— Saikat Datta (saikatd@mstdn.social) (@saikatd) December 30, 2019
The Isha Foundation deleted its tweet on the poll about the CAA-NRC after 63% said that the protests were justified. The foundation had earlier posted a video of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev supporting the CAA, justifying why the Act was needed and asking protesting students to just “read the damn Act”, even after claiming that he himself had not read it “fully”.
The Editor-in-Chief of Zee News, Sudhir Chaudhary had also put out a poll on December 24 asking people whether they supported the CAA. While on Twitter, the number of those supporting the CAA has gone up to 51.7% from 47.7% and the number of people not supporting it has come down to 48.3%; the results of the same poll on Facebook look quite different with 64% not supporting the CAA and only 36% supporting it.
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Dainik Jagran too conducted a poll asking people whether they thought that the CAA protests were politically motivated. The result? 51.8% said the protests weren’t politically motivated, 46.4% believed they were backed by political outfits and 1.9% didn’t have any idea regarding the same.
https://twitter.com/
#जागरणजनमत
क्या सीएए का विरोध वोट बैैंक की राजनीति का नतीजा है? #CAAProtest #CAA_NRC_NPR #votebank #votepoltics— Dainik jagran (@JagranNews) December 30, 2019
A poll by another news channel CNBC Awaaz was also deleted after users did not vote in favour of the ruling government.
(Image Courtesy – The Quint)
A Twitter handle that went by RepublicPoll also sought to understand the people’s view on CAA. They gave a clear mandate.
https://twitter.com/
Which side are you ???
1. #IndiaSupportsCAA
2. #IndiaDoesNotSupportCAA— Republic Poll (@RepublicPoll) December 30, 2019
The poll trend had started after Amit Malviya, the in-charge of the BJP’s IT cell started a poll purportedly against journalist Rajdeep Sardesai.
https://twitter.com/
Rajdeep Sardesai should handle PR for ISIS.
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 27, 2019
Most believe that ‘Godi’ media, the term coined for media channels that openly favour the ruling party, and who aim to polarize viewers, had to face embarrassment after Indians on Twitter called them out for their divisive agenda.
This digital poll exercise comes after the BJP is facing major flak from Indians for its decision to impose the contentious CAA and NRC through the country, even though it is set to allegedly widen religious divides and put the minorities and marginalized through the wringer, leaving them poorer and pushing them farther away from an inclusive democracy.
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