Author: M A Siraj
Publication: The Times of India
Date: September 3, 2002
Introduction: Subsidy violates
spirit of Islam
Subsidy may be a dirty word in the
post-liberalisation era but the government continues to subsidise the air
journey for the Haj pilgrimage for nearly 77,000 people who travel to Saudi
Arabia every year from nearly 10 destinations in India. The government
paid Rs 150 crore to Air-India for ferrying pilgrims for Haj 2002 (concluded
in March) towards the subsidy it has been offering ever since sea voyages
were replaced by the chartered flights around the end of the '80s.
A substantial section of Indian
Muslims, including some MPs, has been opposing the subsidy on Haj. The
opposition is on two counts. First, even from the Islamic point of view,
state subsidy for Haj is untenable. The Koranic injunction is plain. One
should perform Haj if he/she can afford the cost. And affordability includes
the cost of the journey by contemporary means of travel. It was on the
basis of this assumption that ship voyages were phased out 15 years ago
at the behest of Saudi Arabia and air travel became the sole means.
Second, the Haj subsidy is one of
the points on the list of myths propagated by the sangh parivar in their
hate campaign against Muslims.
And unfortunately it is not a myth,
but a sad reality which several Muslims are slowly realising and reluctantly
questioning. Why should a secular state subsidise a pilgrimage when no
Islamic government does so? There is a third angle too. Haj being a rich
man's ritual, the subsidy benefits the wealthy. It has encouraged them
to go on the pilgrimage year after year. The Prophet himself performed
it just once. A former central Haj committee chairman had once asked why
a pilgrim needs a subsidy on the airfare to Jeddah when his baggage on
the return journey is twice the weight he carries on the onward flights.
That the Haj should become a camouflage for annual shopping trips for the
rich Muslim is unacceptable.
A Haj pilgrim travelling from any
point in India to Jeddah under the central Haj committee arrangements currently
pays only Rs 12,000 towards airfare. This is far less than what one would
pay for, say, a two-way air journey between Thiruvananthapuram and New
Delhi. That is just one aspect. The dynamics of the Haj are such that flights
that take pilgrims to Jeddah have to return empty and again fly empty to
Jeddah after 40 days to bring the pilgrims back.
This would not be possible if the
Haj were not so highly subsidised by the state. Undeniably, subsidy had
a social purpose in the Indian context during the heyday of socialism.
But subsidy for the Haj air journey could easily be categorised as fiscal
profligacy This burden on the national exchequer is undesirable. A secular
state could act as a facilitator for religious duties, can even make it
cheaper, but in no way should be seen susbsidising sectarian rituals.
It also adds grist to the propaganda
mill of the Hindutva lobby which sees the Haj subsidy as "a tool of minority
appeasement" and demands subsidy for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra to Tibet
annually organised by the Central government. However unpalatable the language
may be, there is some merit in the argument.
However, there exists a case for
making Haj cheaper. In countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, the Haj boards
mobilise savings from those aspiring to perform Haj. They invest the money
in profitable ventures, disburse profits, take zakat out of the annual
earnings and divert it for charitable purposes, charter planes, make bulk
booking of dwellings and transport at holy sites. The Haj operations by
Malaysia's Tabung Haji, which even bagged the Magsaysay award for its exceptional
services, need to be studied by the mandarins in the central Haj committee.
The committee being the biggest
buyer of air tickets from Air-India could straightaway be granted a 33
per cent discount on fares. (There is a growing opinion that Haj flight
operations and the subsidy are indirectly helping to keep the sagging economy
of Air-India afloat and the company needs to come clean on this). Besides,
the Haj committee could be given free hand in chartering flights and collecting
excess baggage from the returning pilgrims. This will enable the central
Haj committee to hire the services of international air carriers at much
cheaper rates and, in all likelihood, the pilgrims would pay only 60 per
cent of what a normal air journey to Jeddah costs.
Going a step further, the committee
could also mobilise deposits, buy its own planes and lease them out to
the national carrier during the non-Haj season. A proposal to this effect,
i.e., to set up a Haj air corporation by some Muslim MPs has been submitted
to the government.
The size of the official goodwill
Haj delegation could be trimmed and more transparency could be introduced
in the whole process in order to improve efficiency at all levels of the
Haj administration.
The government would do well to
set up a committee of well-meaning citizens in order to find out ways and
means to make the Haj a cheaper and more pleasant exercise, remove subsidy
and cap a source of competitive communalism.
