'What Haj pilgrims get as subsidy they would get as discounts on other airlines.'

The India government's decision to hike Haj subsidy for 10,000 more pilgrims annually has reopened the controversy whether such a sop is needed for religious pilgrimage, even as Muslim intellectuals pooh-pooh the government's argument that the move upholds the country's secular credentials.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government last week decided to pay the round trip fare to 10,000 more Haj pilgrims every year, taking the total number entitled to the subsidy to 110,000.
Muslim intellectuals point out that even Saudi Arabia, home of Mecca, believes that any subsidy for the Haj goes against the spirit of the Shariat, the Islamic law.
However, Quasim Rasool Illyas of All India Muslim Personnel Law Board put a slightly different spin.
'The entire subsidy has to be relooked. The cost of the Haj pilgrimage will be reduced if the government is ready to put Haj affairs under an autonomous body. Now the government subsidy goes to the state-owned Air India. What Haj pilgrims get as subsidy they would get as discounts on other airlines.'
18/11/06 India eNews.com

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