Believe it or not, Bengal has only 784 atheists
Saibal Sen | TNN | Aug 8, 2016, 08.23 AM IST
KOLKATA: At 34 years, Bengal may be right on top when it comes to having had the longest rule by a communist government, but here's something that stretches belief: the state has only 784 professed atheists. In a state that has a population of 91,347,736 people, this translates to 0.00086%, not even a blip.
A decade after Bengal was sucked into a debate on Marx and religion, courtesy former transport minister Subhas Chakraborty's "Jai Tara" comment at the Tarapith temple, the Census 2011 figures (according to recently released data) have shown that the state is only sixth in the country in its atheist population. A total of 2.28 lakh people hadn't revealed their religion at all, but demographers and sociologists find the atheist number to be too small to be true.
Among the other communist-ruled states, Kerala fares better, with 4,896 confirmed atheists, the third highest in the country; Tripura has only 53.Overall, Maharashtra tops the country with 9,652 atheists, followed by Meghalaya (9,089), Kerala, Uttar Pradesh (2,425) and Tamil Nadu (1,297).
"It's difficult to break this data into black and white," felt Dalia Chakraborty , a professor of sociology at Jadavpur University . "Religion is something very personal, which people may not like to reveal. This is very nuanced when it comes to Bengal."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Believe-it-or-not-Bengal-has-only-784-atheists/articleshow/53591960.cms
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