Haj subsidy ends, funds to go into minority education
Mohua Chatterjee & Ambika Pandit TNN
New Delhi: In keeping with Supreme Court orders and its own political plank, the Modi government will no longer provide subsidy to Haj pilgrims and has pledged that funds saved will be used for the education of minorities, particularly girl children.
“There will be no subsidy for Haj from this year,” minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told the media on Tuesday during an interaction at the BJP headquarters and said that the move is part of an effort to “empower minorities without appeasement”.
BJP has argued that the subsidy, essentially for air travel, is a demonstrative sop for Muslims and a diversion of funds that could be better utilised. Significantly, the decision did not evoke a protest from Congress, which maintained it has no objections to end the subsidy as long as the funds were utilised for minority welfare. BJP functionaries, however, emphasised that Congress had shown no urgency to act on the matter when in office after the SC ruled in 2012 that the subsidy be eliminated in 10 years.
Govt’s Haj subsidy was an eyewash: Muslim leaders
While subsidies have been dismantled, a record number of 1.75 lakh Muslims will go on the Haj pilgrimage this year, Naqvi said and claimed that this will be the highest since Independence.
The government will invest what it saves for minority education. It had spent over ₹250 crore last year on subsidising the travel to Saudi Arabia, he said. Restrictions on pilgrims having to take flights from their place of stay or nearest airports have been relaxed and this will lead to cheaper air travel, Naqvi said.
The decision to end the subsidy for Haj pilgrims follows a 2012 Supreme Court order to do away with the subsidy, long sought by BJP. Following the order, the subsidy was gradually rolled back and has now ended.
Some Muslim leaders said the subsidy was an eyewash. “The subsidy was not given to those going on Haj but it was for Air India that is running in losses,” All India Muslim Personal Law Board general secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani told PTI in Lucknow.
“In normal days, tickets for Saudi Arabia come for ₹32,000 but during Haj, Air India used to charge ₹65,000 to ₹1 lakh from those going for Haj. The fare will be less without subsidy,” he said.
All India Shia Personal Law Board chairman Yasoob Abbas, on the other hand, told PTI the board favoured subsidy on Haj as he said it benefited the poor.
Mohua Chatterjee & Ambika Pandit TNN
New Delhi: In keeping with Supreme Court orders and its own political plank, the Modi government will no longer provide subsidy to Haj pilgrims and has pledged that funds saved will be used for the education of minorities, particularly girl children.
“There will be no subsidy for Haj from this year,” minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told the media on Tuesday during an interaction at the BJP headquarters and said that the move is part of an effort to “empower minorities without appeasement”.
BJP has argued that the subsidy, essentially for air travel, is a demonstrative sop for Muslims and a diversion of funds that could be better utilised. Significantly, the decision did not evoke a protest from Congress, which maintained it has no objections to end the subsidy as long as the funds were utilised for minority welfare. BJP functionaries, however, emphasised that Congress had shown no urgency to act on the matter when in office after the SC ruled in 2012 that the subsidy be eliminated in 10 years.
Govt’s Haj subsidy was an eyewash: Muslim leaders
While subsidies have been dismantled, a record number of 1.75 lakh Muslims will go on the Haj pilgrimage this year, Naqvi said and claimed that this will be the highest since Independence.
The government will invest what it saves for minority education. It had spent over ₹250 crore last year on subsidising the travel to Saudi Arabia, he said. Restrictions on pilgrims having to take flights from their place of stay or nearest airports have been relaxed and this will lead to cheaper air travel, Naqvi said.
The decision to end the subsidy for Haj pilgrims follows a 2012 Supreme Court order to do away with the subsidy, long sought by BJP. Following the order, the subsidy was gradually rolled back and has now ended.
Some Muslim leaders said the subsidy was an eyewash. “The subsidy was not given to those going on Haj but it was for Air India that is running in losses,” All India Muslim Personal Law Board general secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani told PTI in Lucknow.
“In normal days, tickets for Saudi Arabia come for ₹32,000 but during Haj, Air India used to charge ₹65,000 to ₹1 lakh from those going for Haj. The fare will be less without subsidy,” he said.
All India Shia Personal Law Board chairman Yasoob Abbas, on the other hand, told PTI the board favoured subsidy on Haj as he said it benefited the poor.
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