Centre scraps Haj subsidy; PDP silent, NC hails, Congress robs GoI of credit

BIVEK MATHUR

JAMMU: In a major move to 'empower minorities without appeasement', in line with the Supreme Court's direction passed in 2012, the Centre on Tuesday has done away with the subsidy for Haj from this year, 3 years ahead of the schedule fixed by the apex court, asserting that the funds saved will be used for providing education to minorities, instead.
While the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) preferred silence over the Government of India's move, opposition National Conference said that it welcomes the decision "as subsidy on religious pilgrimage is Haram in Islam."
The State Congress, however, said that it welcomes the 2012 Supreme Court's judgment on this issue and not the Government of India's move.
Pertinently, the Supreme Court had in 2012 asked the Centre to abolish the subsidy gradually by the year 2022.
The senior PDP leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Haj and Auqaf, Abdul Rehman Veeri said that he will comment on this issue only tomorrow claiming he was busy.
Senior National Conference leader and MLA Khanyar, Ali Mohammad Sagar said that his party welcomes the scrapping of Haj subsidy.
"Subsidy on a religious pilgrimage is Haram (Banned) in Islam. So, I am in favour of GoI's move. I also welcome GoI for announcing to use the subsidy for educating the minority community girls."
Meanwhile, the former Health and Family Welfares Minister and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad also hailed the decision but claimed that government has ended the subsidy 4 years before it was automatically supposed to end as per the Supreme Court directives.
He also said that the subsidy was not meant to appease Muslims and claimed that it benefited the airlines which inflated flight charges by almost double during the pilgrimage.
"Since the government has wound up this subsidy almost four years before the date prescribed by the Supreme Court, I don't think we have any issue.
"We don't want to make this an issue at all. Let the government do whatever they want to do. I just wanted to make it clear, the Hajis were not the beneficiaries, it was the airlines who were the beneficiaries. If they had some favour on somebody, it was on the airlines, not on the Hajis," he told reporters.
Asked if the Congress welcomed the decision of abolishing the subsidy, he said, "We welcome the Supreme Court judgement, not the government."
The government is only implementing the Supreme Court decision, Azad said.
It was not the government's decision, but of the Supreme Court bench of Justice Aftab Alam, he said.
Azad, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said just as the government has implemented the first part of the Supreme Court judgement, it should implement the second part too.
Earlier in the day, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi announced the withdrawal of subsidy, asserting that the funds saved will be used for empowerment of minorities.
"There will be no subsidy on Haj now," he told reporters in New Delhi, adding that the government had spent over Rs 250 crore last year on subsidising the annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Saudi Arabia.
The minister also said a record number of 1.75 lakh Muslims will undertake the pilgrimage this year from India despite the subsidy withdrawal.
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.
The funds would be utilised for providing education to minorities, he said.
Asked if the subsidy withdrawal will make the cost of the pilgrimage too high for many Muslims, Naqvi said the government was making efforts to bring it down.
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.