India withdraws Haj subsidy

175,000 Indian Muslims will undertake the pilgrimage this year

There will be no subsidy for the Haj from this year, India’s Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said yesterday.

Naqvi told reporters that despite the subsidy withdrawal, a record number of 175,000 Muslims will undertake the pilgrimage this year from India. Naqvi also said that the Saudi government has in principle agreed to allow the Haj journey from India by ships and officials of the two countries will sit together to finalise the modalities.

“This is part of our policy to empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement,” Naqvi told reporters and cited a host of measures for the welfare of minorities.

Last year, Naqvi said that the government would abolish the subsidy for Haj pilgrims in accordance with a Supreme Court order. “A constitutional bench had, during the Congress regime in 2012, directed that the subsidy be done away with. Hence, in the new policy, as per the recommendations of a committee, we have decided to do away with the subsidy gradually,” he had said.

Thank you Prime Minister Modi for ending Haj subsidy that never existed. The Indian government yesterday announced ending the subsidy saying the move would help empower Muslims with dignity. Making the announcement, minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: “We believe in empowerment without appeasement.”

The minister did not elaborate what he meant by “appeasement” but, for decades, the Haj subsidy remained a whip in the hands of right-wing parties to attack political rivals. The dole — nothing more than a sleight of hand by the government — was used by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party to embarrass rivals by accusing them of “appeasing” Muslims by subsidising expenses involved in the pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah. It also targeted Muslims for being a recipient of government aid to fulfil their religious obligation. Angered by this attack, several Muslims have been demanding an end to the subsidy.

However, it is important to understand what was this subsidy and whether Muslims actually benefited from it. In 201617, the government budgeted Rs4.5 billion subsidy for around 100,000 Muslims who performed Haj last year. Each pilgrim paid around Rs220,000 (amount varies each year) for airfare, stay in Makkah and Madinah and for miscellaneous expenses. This money is paid to government-managed Haj committees, which then transfer this money to other agencies. In other words, each Muslim pays for his/her own Haj expenses.

So, why then does the government need to provide a subsidy? A significant chunk of money paid by Muslims goes to India’s government-owned national carrier Air India, which enjoys a virtual monopoly on Haj circuit. The airline picks up passengers from around a dozen cities and flies them to Jeddah. The government argues that the actual expenses incurred by Muslims is more than what they pay. This is where the subsidy angle kicks in. Air India inflates India-Jeddah tickets during the Haj season. This so-called government subsidy is used to pay for tickets that are always higher than the prevailing airfare charged by other airlines. A breakdown would show that an Air India ticket to Jeddah would cost more than a trip to Los Angeles from India.

Essentially, the government takes money from one pocket and puts it back in another. Muslims have always demanded global tenders for Haj flights and for providing accommodation in Makkah and Madinah. Now that this “subsidy” has been formally withdrawn, India must invite private players to provide transport and logistics for pilgrims. However, while Naqvi sought to take a high moral ground by claiming that his party appeases no section of the society, his own government spends billions of rupees on organising Hindu pilgrimages every year.