Scrapping of Haj subsidy

THE BJP government’s approval to abolish the Haj subsidy is in effect a ratification of the suggestions made by the Central Haj Committee at its meeting a couple of months back. It also improves on a Supreme Court order written by Justice Aftab Alam, delivered before the time of this government, to end the practice by 2022 and utilise the subsidy for the community’s uplift. As a result, the community, especially its select beneficiaries — less than 0.1 per cent of Indian Muslims have gone for Haj in the last 10 years — were reconciled to the inevitability of its roll back. 

The religious factor also weighed in the Central Haj Committee’s deliberations, especially the Quranic observation that Haj was meant only for those who could afford the costs involved (istita’ah); and the subsidy in this light appears to be a handout. Some Muslims were dissatisfied because they felt the subsidy was actually a discount on overpriced air fares. It is just as well that an issue that had left the community divided and unhappy is buried. But it has also been expedient for the government to take complete ownership. It fortifies the mood of its Hindutva rank and file for whom the demand to abolish Haj subsidy is a staple of their polarising discourse against the Muslims. It also helps it tide over the disappointment of being unable to push through the triple talaq legislation.

Although Haj subsidy was not a major issue among Muslims because of the low numbers and the religious uncertainty surrounding it, its abolition contrasts with the state’s generous underwriting of similar events for other religious denominations; both the recent as well as the enduring. No eyebrows have been or are expected to be raised about the sangat darshan of the erstwhile Badal government or the Khattar government’s Gita Mahotsav. No questions have been asked about the massive expenditure for the Kumbh Mela; nor should they be. India has lived by its unique beat of secularism and achieved a peaceful closure on an outworn idea. However, the BJP’s zealot corner must be kept in check to avoid giving the impression that the space for the Indian Muslim is shrinking.