The minority affairs minister of India Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday said that the government is completely withdrawing the subsidy for Haj pilgrimage and that amount will instead be used for the education of minorities.
He also said that this is an attempt by the government to empower the minorities without appeasement. He said that in spite the withdrawal of the subsidy a record number of 1.75 lakh will attend haj this year.
“There will be no subsidy on Haj now,” he told reporters, adding that the government had spent over Rs 250 crore last year on subsidizing the annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Saudi Arabia.
The decision is in line with a 2012 Supreme Court order, asking the government to do away with the subsidy, a long-standing demand of the BJP.
The BJP had cited the subsidy as an example of “Muslim appeasement” by parties such as the Congress.
Following the order, the subsidy was being gradually reduced every year.
“It is part of the Modi government’s efforts to empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement,” Naqvi said.
He said that the money will now be used for the education of children.
He also said that the government is also trying to bring down the coast of Haj pilgrimage.
The Saudi Arabian government has agreed to allow Indians to go on Haj by the sea route and officials of the two countries will work out the modalities, he said.
Naqvi said his ministry is also organising an event in Lucknow on January 18 in which he and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will speak on “empowering minorities without appeasement” with the help of central schemes.
Minority affairs ministers of nine states will also attend the event, he added.
Reacting cautiously to the government’s decision, the Congress said it hopes that the Modi government will honour the apex court’s direction and utilise this money for the education and development of the disempowered among the minorities, including young girls.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB)said the government’s decision on revoking Haj subsidy has no meaning as there was no such concession and Muslims were being cheated in its name.
Welcoming the Centre’s decision, the Vishva Hindu Parishad said the money saved from it should be utilised for the education of poor Hindu girls.
According to sources in the minority affairs ministry, till 2017, the notional savings following gradual abolition of subsidy since 2012 was to tune of Rs 636.56 crore. In case, the government had chosen to reduce the subsidy gradually till 2022, the total national savings would have have been around Rs 5970.6 crore, the sources said.
Haj pilgrims from certain regions will have an additional option to choose from where they want to fly to Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage, Naqvi said and claimed that this would bring down the cost by up to 70 per cent on some routes.
There are a total of 21 Haj embarkation points (EPs) in the country — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Cochin, Indore, Srinagar, Bhopal, Guwahati, Mangaluru, Aurangabad, Varanasi, Jaipur, Nagpur, Ranchi, Gaya, Ahmedabad, and Goa.
Haj aspirants — for whom the 10 airports of Srinagar, Guwahati, Ranchi, Gaya, Indore, Bhopal, Mangaluru, Goa, Aurangabad, and Varanasi are the nearest EPs – will now get an additional economical option to fly from.
The pilgrims from Jammu and Kashmir, whose nearest EP is Srinagar, can opt to travel from Delhi now, helping them save on (per head) airfare. In 2017, the airfare for the pilgrimage from Srinagar was Rs 1,09,692 as against Rs 73,697 from Delhi.
The airfare for Haj 2018 may vary, ministry sources said.
Similarly, aspirants whose basic EPs are Guwahati, Ranchi, and Gaya will have the alternative of undertaking the journey from Kolkata. Those having Indore, Bhopal, Goa and Aurangabad as the nearest airports, can opt for flying from Mumbai.
Those with Varanasi as the basic airport can choose Lucknow as their optional embarkation point while those with Mangaluru as their EP will have the option of Bengaluru.
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