Google the words Haj Subsidy and the top three results are from the rabid right wing Muslim-bashers. All the first 30 results are related to India and that means it is a big issue for Indian and Indians.
Since, the Haj pilgrimage has just concluded, it is the right time to ask this question, are we really getting a Haj subsidy?
First, let us analyze what exactly this so-called Haj subsidy entails. An Indian Muslim, who chooses to go to Haj through government run Haj committees, gets a subsidy of around Rs. 20,000 on their Air India ticket of Rs. 32,000. That is it ! The minimum cost of a Haj package through the Haj committees is around Rs. 92,000, of which Rs. 20,000 is paid by the Indian government to Air India as a subsidy on the Hajis ticket. The total Haj airline ticket subsidy was around Rs. 150 crore for the year 2001 and has been enmarked to Rs. 225 crores for the year 2005. It is interesting to note that the normal ticket to Saudi Arabia costs around Rs. 25,000 but Air India charges Rs. 34,000 from the Hajis. So, effectively the government is giving a subsidy of Rs. 12,000 only !
The Sangh Parivar zealots make is sound like that the Indian government sponspors an Annual-Go-To-Haj trip for anyone who is interested. Why this is such a big issue for them? I don’t think the amount involved (Rs. 225 crores) is the itching factor. They are more piqued at the fact that it allows Muslims to go to Mecca and Medina, their holy cities which are outside India, out there is some land called Arabia. The usual argument of these fanatics is that India and India alone should be the pitrabhuumi (fatherland) and punyabhuumi (holyland) of all Indians and since the holy places of Muslims and Christians are elsewhere, they can never be patriotic enough. This argument would have been plain ridiculous had it not been so malevolent. So, what they are trying to say is that a Hindu born and brought up in USA can not be patriotic enough to USA, if he chooses to visit the Somnath mandir in India as a pilgrim. A Swede, who converts to Hinduism, can not be loyal to Sweden if he scouts Mathura and Varanasi in search of spiritual salvation. The patriotism of all Sikhs who visit Nankana sahab in Pakistan is somehow suspect and all Hindus who undergo the arduous Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage can not be termed Indians anymore because that site is under Chinese dominion. Welcome to Ram Rajya 2.0, as espoused by a few hate mongers. But then, these gentlemen hardly talk or understand a five lettered word, ‘sense’. We would let them go for the time being.
Coming back to the Haj subsidy, Haj is obligatory only on those who are physically and financially capable of performing the journey. So, all the expenses should be incurred by the Hajis himself and the government should not pay any part of that. Fair enough. But is the government actually providing any financial support to the Hajis? I don’t think so. The government is only subsidising their air tickets because the airlines they are travelling with belongs to the government. In other words it is a discount on an overpriced product. There are many companies that provide discounts to their regular users. What we fail to appreciate is that these Hajis are providing atleast 84 crores as revenue to Air India per year, year after year for the pathetic service they receive in return. Is it merely a rumour that the worst Air India carriers are employed by Air India for the Haj travel? Last year, on its way back, one of the Air India plane broke down. It has to be grounded in Sharjah for a full night. The Hajis were told that they would have to spend the entire night in the plane. Customer service anyone? After protests from the passengers, Air India finally relented and issued boarding passes to the passengers. Which traveller in his right mind would prefer travelling with Air India with so many airlines providing world-class service at comptetitive rates, nowadays?
More than 1,20,000 Indians went for Haj in the year 2001. That is a big big number and the that too within a specific time schedule. Out of these, around 50,000 chose to go with private tour operators. Why? Because there are many private tour operators that offer Haj packages for as low as Rs. 68,000, without any government subsidy (yes, the government gives subsidy only on the Air India ticket, not to the Hajis per se). What does that tells us? Let me make a guess, these tour operators are more efficient?
So, the goverment of India, in order to cover for their awful management of Air India, to hold on to a constant (and unquestioning) source of revenue (year, after year) want Indian Muslims to believe that it is doing a lot of favour by doling out some subsidy on an overpriced air ticket. That too for its own vote bank politics. Come on !
The consecutive governments in India have only used symbolism in the name of minority policies. Instead of focusing on the real issues, as to why Indian Muslims are at the bottom of the social rung, why the literacy rate of Muslims is the lowest, what are the reasons that Muslims fail to enrol their kids for school, what can be done to utilise the tremendous skills of business and entrepreneurship, all we are given is a pathetic subsidy on an overpriced airline ticket and that too, mainly for its own good. Symbolism sells, in India, it sells big. The fact that it also gives an issue to perennial Muslim-haters like Togadia, Singhal and Giriraj Kishore, is of no concern to it. Afterall, when these people bark, and occasionally bite, which way the terrified Muslim would turn to? Is it just a co-incidence or a well though strategy, that the BJP led government did not abolish the Haj subisidy in its 6 years of power because that would deprive its core Muslim-bashing constituency one of the favourite issues? Even Muslim leaders such as Syed Shahabuddin (not that Siwan hoodlum, but the ex-diplomat) has been demanding for 20 years that the Indian government should do away with the so-called Haj subsidy. He also claims that no Muslim leader ever asked for it.
The bottomline is this, Indian Muslims should reject the subsidized Air India ticket, if not for anything else then for common sense only. Once the Haj market opens and this forced monopoly of Air India goes, I would not be surprised if other airlines start offering discounts to the Hajis. Afterall, which company wouldn’t want to tap in an yearly market in excess of Rs. 350 crores, and that too, just for the airfare.
Mohib
This is a shame on us muslims that we are being target for this haj subsidy. I would suggest that we should stop accepting funds from the indian government for Haj.
hello,
Pseduo-secularists have been thriving in India politics. All the parties apart from BJP have been doing lip service around this. The main reason for the Haj subsidy is:
1) They want to continue to provide this subsidy and get votes in favour. If I were a muslim i would not go to Mecca since Islam does not favour any debt (favour) from anyone to visit the holy place.
2) They dont want these muslims to progress and get educated so that they can be more rational and be religious fundamentalist. If they do so they will understand the rational and not vote for them. (Like the one above)
This is what is found on Wikipedia on Haj Subsidy.
“It is criticised on the grounds that (1) no Islamic country offers any subsidy for Haj pilgrims. Pakistan did until the Lahore High Court banned the practice and that (2) it is against Islamic theology to be obligated to anyone for performing Haj.”
Secularism says that the govt should not interefere in the religious matters of an citizen. Is the direct funding and rationing of Haj piligrims not a direct interference of religious matters. Does any govt decide who will visit the Vatican and in what numbers. Its decided by the Christian Fraternity. Does anyone decide who and how many will be visiting Kumbh mela or Mansarovar. It should not be in the govt agenda. As muslims you should not want govt interference.
I hope that over time people understand this and be mature to understand the rationale to keep them as assured vote bank. Lets be more rational guys.
Piyush,
It is as if the story ended and you are asking for characters again. I don’t see why Hindus and Muslims and Christians or anyone in India(Yes Because Indians are the most inflexible) don’t want to change their view and attitude.
It is frustrating and all the exercise of blogging and writing articles is a waste if one does not at least read the article properly. For Muslims Palestine or Taslima seem more important and for Hindus it seems issues such as Ayodhya, Uniform code and Haj subsidy seem more important. It is sad that the people who keep hate amongst hindus and Muslims or anyone are the educated elite.
If you see carefully the author himself has shouted enough that Haj subsidy is something that Muslims dont need.
bravo Mr.matt, im sooooooooooooooo glad to go thru ur blog & i too feel the same
# 11 Matt Says:
April 17th, 2007 at 10:34 am
If the so called subsidy does not make economic sense for the Muslims, all the more reason for Muslims to say they do not want it.
If the final subsidy per Haji is still Rs 12,000, it is still a lot. A family in a village can live an year on that. Perhaps Muslims should ask for that money to be spent on poor Muslims in some other way so they can live?
I am no Hindu fundamentalist. But for me, asking the government to subsidise my religious needs is begging. If the Christians, Sikhs Hindus too get it in some other way, they are beggars too.
Everyone knows that BJP has a motive in asking to remove the subsidy. So what? Let the Muslims ask for the same, and then laugh at BJP. I am sure there are enough ways for Muslims to arrange the 200 crore the government gives them now. Same for the other religions. Why do we feel so proud of begging?
Haj Subsidy the greatest con of Democratic India, just like declaring the All Indians Hindu apart from the disclaimer of except Muslims and Christian.
You have a IATA Price and the regular price, which is usually 40-50% of the IATA Price. So our Secular India is giving discount on the IATA Price and hood wing everyone into belief of this great subsidy. This is our Secular and Socialist setup’s greatest con. let the market forces play…….am sure charter airlines will fall over each other offering less than Rs15000/- for the same ticket for the assured customer base of 1,00,000 passengers.
Of course, they will never hear us, how much loud we call. This is one of the convenient set piece for the both camps.
‘’For Muslims Palestine or Taslima seem more important and for Hindus it seems issues such as Ayodhya, Uniform code and Haj subsidy seem more important.’’
The cause of Palestine may be right as the balfour agreement was unjust to the Palestinians. But even though the grievances of Palestine or Iraq may be correct they have never related to India and India in its foreign policy stands by these people.
Mohib let me take some points as to why the Haj subsidy even after your analysis is supported by many Muslim leaders and even the Haj committee. Why Muslim leaders never voice enough for its removal?
One of the advantages is that Muslims get Air India ticket only for Rs 12000 against Rs 25,000 by any other airlines. Haj Committee is run entirely by Muslims and has not much to do with the Indian Government’s ‘CON’. The package by Haj Committee is 92,000(72,000 after subsidy) because of the other things and costs that they decide (Corruption included).
Also if 1, 20,000 people chose to go to their pilgrimage and 70,000 chose the haj committee way then there are obvious reasons that not all operators offer package for 68,000. You have chosen the scenario where operators give the best price in terms of planning done long back.
Mirza, the airlines sector has only come up post liberalisation. Before 1994 the main type of travel was through ships where also the subsidy was provided.
Now coming to King Of Hills assertions about the biggest ‘CON’. Muslims themselves choose to vote for socialist parties and communists who are against market reforms. These parties are against any opening up of economy leave alone air travel. Muslims even vote for Muslim league in Kerala and they even want a Muslim party where there are enough Muslim votes.
Mohib, By your statement I infer you are saying that punyabhumi of Muslims is Mecca or for Christians is Rome. No one calls it wrong. Why should anyone call it wrong? But it becomes wrong If someone says that punyabhumi of Hindus is India.
I appreciate Mohib that yes Haj subsidy is not an issue ‘NOW’. It was relevant till 1994 definitely. The relevance after opening up of skies policy and cheaper air travel might not be much. But your article lacks clear support and thrust on voicing removal of Haj subsidy. On the other hands the analysis seems suggesting that the Haj subsidy be made more relevant by probably adding more subsidies.
Good article. It is true that the Haj subsidy merely serves to obscure the real issues that plague the muslim community in India: lack of education, women’s rights etc. The muslim community has been held captive to the vote bank politics of Congress, Muslim League etc., and hopefully some tall leader will arise who will show the way out of the morass they find themselves in now.
i totally agree with u after reading abt haj subsidy our govt. should stop vote bank politics nd invest in other areas viz. infrastructure, agriculture etc. so dat all the people of INDIA can get the three time meal easily nd enjoy the life as others are doing. HAJ subsidy is not only the matter of money we should invest in the basic needs muslims needs good schools for their children nd a house nd meal so i request govt. to do sth in this area
Pingback: UPDATED - India Budget 2008-09 And Minorities | Indian Muslims Blog
Have gone through few perasreally I appreaciate your articles and the facts expressed.Thanks.
At least India gives its muslim citizens a subsidy , be it of any kind . what other islamic country does this ? hindus dont get any subsidies to travel anywhere.
instead of appreciating it im shocked to see people denigerating it.
if you think its such a big con, then apeeal the the govt to stop it and withdraw it. lets see what interesting articles follow and who gets affected
I don’t agree with Mahesh T saying Muslims even vote for Muslim league in Kerala. There is an MP of Left party from muslim majority place named Manjeri from Malappuram district.
According to air travel rules, if a person travels in his individual capacity, he has to pay full fair but for group travel, fares are considerably reduced. If the entire plane is hired on charter, fares are reduced to even less than half. Hence the subsidy offered by the govt. is nothing but the fare reduction to be given according to the air travel rule. Political parties in India are utilizing it by making it as a serous issue. Of course, muslims don’t want to go to Hajj by subsidy and all. But if the entire aircraft contains only hajj passengers, the fare should be reduced by the aircraft company itself. So the govt. should not say it as subsidy.
Not to nitpick – but a flight from Mumbai to Jeddah costs Rs 21000 and not 34,000 as you mention (source:yatra.com).So the subsidy is not as meaningless as the author claims it to be.For a muslim from the lower middle class – thats quite a bit!
Apart from that the points raised are quite thought provoking to say the least.
Jaz, Idea was to suggest that Muslims need to discuss with their chosen representatives about school, hospitals, roads etc and not about Pakistan, Palestine and Iraq. Also, I do not see a unilateral voice emerging from Muslim community saying remove Haj subsidy or even the author does not explicitly suggest so. Also, I am very much against the idea of dividing poverty into Hindu poverty, Muslim poverty, Hindu Poor, Muslim poor, Backward Forward, Ajlaf, Ashraf.
India can be developed with smaller programs and planned urbanisation. Once people are more urbanised the differences of identity will become little subdued. Also, if ghettoes can be broken down then people will have an opportunity to interact and mix more. Credit for starting of smaller industries and shops can take care of unemployment. Use of cycles will create a fitter and less energy requiring society. Increase of good public transport will create a environment friendly society and lesser traffic on roads. I believe rather than political issues, Ummah, Temple we need to start thinking for our society where we live in . Otherwise people will be narrow enough to think that 35 miles of land will change demography and crores of rupees being gifted for subsidy is a Con.
FAnstastic analysis. This brings a lot of clarity, as usual our government does token stuff in the name of Muslims, all it does is offer fodder to the right wing hindus while not delivering anything to the ordinary muslim.
Every year government is spending 250 crore rupees to subsidise the Haj travels. Does the Hindus get anything like that from any Islamic country if they want to visit India for pigrimage ? Does any Japanese Buddhist get any subsidy from Japanese government if he wants to visit Bodh Gaya in India for pilgrimage ? It is wrong to subsidise these kinds of pilgrimages with tax payer’s money.
This kind of subsidy on Haj is a form of minority appeasement and must stop. I hope others would see the reason behind it and would not perceive this as an effort to spread hatred.
Mr Indian
Either you are completely misguided or you are deliberately ignoring the facts. 250 crore is a very small amount to pay for so many poor Indian citizens for a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit a pilgrimage center. It is meant for those who perhaps will not have that chance ever.
We lost far more of the Tax payers money over the recent Gujjar agitation that was completely needless and open blackmail. Govt spends a fair amount of proportionate money on Hindu pilgrims – be that the numerous Kumbh melas/random religious congregations or to please a “God” Man.
More than that we loose far more of the Tax-Payers money due to random religious structures – in most cases – temples that come up on public property as a classic case of land grab. We do not have minority/majority appeasement – we have anti-social element appeasement in our country.
If Muslims were genuinely appeased – their socio-economic status would not have been so bad. What is happening is minority mis-guidance induclged by the usual suspects – politicians from the same minority class.
FYI: I pay my taxes very regularly and its was not fun to see the huge tax payout at the end of the month (when I used to get an Indian salary). If I had consumer rights as a tax payer I would have sued the GOI.
Well, i agree that a muslim should rather perfom his hajj from a hallal income source. So i would the support the banning of the hajj subsidies. Muslims should also remember that though hajj is not compulsory on those who cannot afford the expenses.
Now for banning this hajj subsidy, well everyone knows that muslims are not the majority in the parliament and cannot ban them. So the responsibility lies on the law makers. In the past we have had BJP rule as i am still wondering, why didn’t they ban them, if they have too much problem with the hajj subsidy?
Is it that BJP and other right wing hindutva forces don’t want to ban the subsidy but rather only keep the issue alive so as to endlessly fight over??? I am asking this question to the hindus? Hindus should better wake up and understand the fact rather than being enslaved by the bigotry of these Hindutva forces…..
I as a muslim support that ban as i believe that hajj should not be performed from income from doubtfull sources. For example the govrrnment does collect sales taxes for liquor and ciggarattes, now the money from this haraam for muslims, so we should not be performing hajj on this. Instead the muslims establish without the government aid, a central savings account (like bait ul mal) where all muslims donate their zakat and charity. This money inturn can be used for hajj and other needs of the muslims. I hope the hindus should not have a problem with this because i am proposing only a self help group by muslims for the muslims.
I am a strong advocate that muslims should not be dependent on any one but only them selves, only then inshallah our situation will brighten. Let us not be fodder for these right wing hindutva lobbies in the country and especially in this message board.
check out this ….
http://www.indianmuslims.info/reports_about_indian_muslims/hajj_operation_in_india_2006.html