Anna more trustworthy than Ramdev: Survey

Gandhian Anna Hazare might be leading the country’s biggest anti-corruption movement and riding a wave of popular goodwill but more people are familiar with the name of Baba Ramdev than his. The yoga guru is certainly more popular in the rural areas and has great recall value.

According to a CNN-IBN & CNBC-TV18 survey, conducted across 19 states and 1,300 locations, 60 percent of the respondents have heard of Ramdev while only 45 percent are aware of who Anna Hazare is. The yoga guru’s popularity is significantly high in rural areas — 56 percent — compared to that of the anti-corruption crusader — 39 percent. Both are well-known in urban India. But here, too, there are more people who actually know of Ramdev than Hazare (66: 55).

It could be attributed to the fact that Anna arrived on the national scene only three months ago while Ramdev has been around for a long time. His reputation as a yoga guru is well-entrenched in rural and urban areas. But Anna definitely has made an impact in a limited period.

But most people consider Anna Hazare more trustworthy than Baba Ramdev. While 26 percent of respondents feel the Gandhian is more reliable, the number dips for the yoga guru to 14 percent. Interestingly, 45 per cent of college-educated respondents find the former more trustworthy than the Baba (12 percent). Anna’s acceptability goes up with the education level of respondents.

It does not surprise much. Distrust towards him from several quarters, particularly the civil society, was evident during his campaign. After his agitation was unceremoniously ended by the police he did not have many, including his political backers, supporting him.

“Jo jiska kam ho, usko voh karna chahiye… (One should do what is appropriate for him). This was the wry disapproval from actor Shahrukh Khan to Baba Ramdev’s high octane campaign against black money and corruption a couple of months ago. He received the mandatory flak from the die hard fans of the yoga guru.

Baba’s fight against corruption has ended in a whimper and he is back to doing what is appropriate — giving yoga lessons. In the hindsight, Shahrukh appears to be right. A good number of Ramdev’s followers agree with him too.

According to the survey, 38 percent of Ramdev’s supporters don’t want him to dabble in politics. As many as 43 of BJP supporters, too, want him to focus on what he is good at. There’s, however, a minor wave of sympathy for him on the issue of the police action at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi. Forty-one percent of all respondents and 49 percent of BJP supporters said the police action was unjustified.

Table 1: Ramdev better known than Anna

Table 2: Anna more trustworthy

  CNN-IBN, CNBC-TV18 State of the Nation Poll in association with Forbes India conducted by CSDS