Muslim Mirror News
New Delhi: After the scrapping of so-called Hajj subsidy, the demand for ending all subsidies to religious events has been growing. Echoing the views of the opposition, Popular Front of India on Thursday said the Government of India shall leave religious functions to believers and end all the subsidies currently being granted to various religious events in and out of the country. It also demanded that the monopoly of Air India on the Haj travels should be broken.
In a statement, PFI said the sudden removal of the Subsidy for Haj Pilgrim which has been in place since decades fails to answer many questions. There is no explanation as to why a sudden end only to Haj Subsidy while there are many other religious events that are still being funded, like Kumbh Melas, Amarnath, Kailash, Manasa, etc. Hence the decision can only be viewed as discriminatory and divisive, it asked.
The Muslim community will have no difficulty to agree that Haj is not something to be performed with financial aids from outside. Yet due to the way it is administered, the much talked about Haj Subsidy has not been of any help to Muslims.
“With the monopoly of Air India on the Haj travels, the subsidy has been meaningless. For years, the government has been charging pilgrims extra, more than the amount they are granted by way of subsidy. Once the monopoly of Air India and government control on Haj travels are lifted, cost of the Hajj will get reduced more than what it is now with the subsidy. Therefore government must stop helping Air India’s exploitation of Haj pilgrims and engage other airline companies who can prove the same service at lower costs”.
It also said the government presents the Supreme Court judgment as to the reason for the decision but its claim cannot be taken at the face value because we don’t see the same diligence on the part of the government in implementing several other more important court orders.
PFI said the central government must take immediate steps to end all other ongoing funding for all religious events.