Muslim pilgrims pray around the holy Kaaba during the annual Haj pilgrimage in Mecca. Reuters file photo
New Delhi, January 16
The BJP-led government has done away with Haj subsidy for pilgrims from this year as part of its policy to “empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement”.
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Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said Haj subsidy funds would be utilised for educational empowerment of the minority community, especially girls. “This is part of our policy to empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement,” he explained. Despite the withdrawal of subsidy, a record 1.75 lakh pilgrims, “the highest ever since Independence,” would undertake the annual pilgrimage to Mecca this year, he said. — TNS
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