[Reader-list] THE ISSUE OF HAJ SUBSIDY

[arshad amanullah]

                                         THE  ISSUE  OF  HAJ  SUBSIDY

By: Arshad Amanullah.

For a week or so, the issue of Haj subsidy is in news. The Supreme
Court had stayed the Allahabad High Court order restraining the Centre
from granting financial subsidy to Haj pilgrims every year and cleared
the subsidy for 2006. However, it asked the latter to dispose of the
main petition on the validity of the subsidy as expeditiously as
possible, but before Haj 2007. This judicial intervention into an
issue which is directly linked to the religious sentiments of the
Muslim community raises several questions regarding the difference in
the understanding of the idea of secularism enshrined in the
Constitution and the role of the political and religious elite of the
community and the country at large.
Initiated as a financial support for those who used to go on the Haj
pilgrimage by ships, Haj subsidy continued even after 1995 when it was
prohibited to travel in ships. In the same year, Hari Shankar Jain on
behalf of BN Shukla, a VHP activist, challenged the legitimacy of the
subsidy in a writ filed in the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High
Court. It is, during one of the hearings on this petition, the Court
had given its latest verdict. The judiciary is of the view that Haj
subsidy violates "the secular character of our Constitution" according
to which there shall be no discrimination on the basis of religion
while no communities other than Muslims receive such a subsidy for
their pilgrimage.
It has spurred a debate among the Muslim society whether it's Islamic
to accept a grant from the Government to perform Haj, a religious
ritual. Those who are for the subsidy, argue that it is not alms on
the part of the government to the Muslims as the subsidy is paid from
the exchequer of the country to which the Muslims tax-payers also
contribute. It is true that the Government has been providing
facilities for the Kailash Manasarovar yatra and incurring an expense
of Rs. 3,200 on each pilgrim. But, the tax-payers money here is used
as provision of facilities, not as subsidy.
Those Muslims who oppose the subsidy aver how Islamic it is to perform
Haj with subsidies generated from taxes, mostly paid by non-Muslims.
Even Muslim nations do not offer subsidy for Haj to their poorest
citizens. In 1997, Justice Tanvir Ahmed of the Lahore High Court had
ruled that any expenditure defrayed by the government in subsidizing
the Haj pilgrims was contrary to the Shariat.
Religiously speaking, only those Muslims are required to perform Haj
who can bear the expense out of their own legitimate income. Thus, the
fear expressed by Solicitor General G E Vahanvati in the Supreme Court
that most of 1,47,000 pilgrims for Haj 2006-II would not undertake Haj
if there was non subsidy, does not stand to the test of Shariat.
An analysis of the financial aspects of Haj subsidy exposes its
absurdity. It's the government which benefits more from the subsidy
than the intending pilgrim do. They are compelled to travel by Air
India and this is to, as some politicians allege, make up of the huge
losses incurred by the same. An intending pilgrim has to pay Rs.36000
for his ticket from Delhi to Jeddah while an average traveler has to
pay only Rs.22,000 for the same as Air India effects considerable
increments in its fare for the same destination for Haj pilgrims. If
one avails the services of other airways, one needs to pay much less
amount than he pays to Air India.
It should also be borne in the mind that only those pilgrims can avail
the facility of the subsidy who travel through the Central Haj
Committee. Before lapse of even two months, it starts preparations for
the next Haj. In this connection, many delegates visit Saudi Arabia
for several times to make arrangements for the stay of the pilgrims.
In the process, they make money as they are bribed to make compromise
on the healthy and comfortable stay of the pilgrims. It is very
prominent in the process of building selection. Generally, eleven
pilgrims are accommodated in the space allocated for only ten of them
and, thus, the expenses of one pilgrim are saved. Likewise, while
fixing the rate for the exchange of currencies, a huge margin is
observed, resulting in large amount of profits.
The Sangh Parivar is lambasting the UPA government for its minority
appeasement policy on the issue of Haj subsidy. However, the fact that
even the BJP, despite its being so keen on the abolition of the
subsidy, refused to do away with it in the six years of the NDA rule
at the Centre, speaks volumes about how beneficial the subsidy is in
practice for the intending pilgrims. This serves as a yardstick to
measure the opportunism of the UPA leadership to keep its Muslim
vote-bank consolidate at the cost of the electorate.
In a nutshell, the package of Haj subsidy is in no way beneficial for
the Muslim community. Clamor for its restoration on the part of the
political and the religious leadership of the community belies their
demonstrated commitments for the betterment of the community.


arshad amanullah
35,masihgarh,
jamia nagar
new delhi-25.