A Himalayan Shame

The Haj subsidy:


How absurd, if not sad, that India is the only country in the world that provides a subsidy to its second biggest majority for pilgrimage to Mecca; in the pretext of her constitutional obligation (of secular) and latter enacted as the Haj Act, way back in 1959!

Thanks to Janab Jawaharlal Nehru, who chose to give this gift to the second biggest majority! Thanks to his stream of secular ideologists and India's urban English press that even after 27th May 1964 (after the Janab's demise), that they chose to remain silent on the Act that can surpass all the Constitutional provisions that can make a mockery of democratic republic India's secular image.

Why has India no similar Act of Parliament that offers such a subsidy to non-Muslims? The only possible answer that a sensible and right-minded Indian can come to is, that, in order for India's pseudo-secularist babus (politicians) to be elected as peoples representatives, appeasement is the easiest option to gain a seat of power that can then help them amass wealth. It's an irony that the non-Muslims are more engaged in regional political parties than issues that demand immediate attention like national security, corruption and population control. No wonder Pakistan's ISI has successfully managed to penetrate in almost every establishment in India.

In order to monitor this year's Haj, which generally takes place every year in March/April - all expenses paid - multiple member delegation, headed by some senior politician, Muslim of course, visits Mecca to check facilities and make necessary arrangements, all at the expense of the common man. How cute.

Economically, can India really afford the ever-increasing subsidy? The 1994 to 2001 subsidy scenario costing the Indians 25 crores to 150 crores respectively (a giant leap of 500% in 7 years!), is not only alarming but also most unacceptable when the Indian government is busy in scrapping the most needed subsidies for food grain and fertilizers for farmers, besides the mega-urgently needed cash for the Indian Army, Air Force and Navy.

Socially, can India afford to give a step-motherly treatment to non-Muslims, when the need of the hour is to instill patriotism in every son of the soil? Is it right for the India's politicians (some of whom with criminal cases behind them) to create barriers amongst her own children? Psychologically, can India afford to let her citizens think that the very sovereignty and integrity for which Indians have sacrificed their lives in the period of 90 years from 1857 to 1947, and from 1947 to 1999, (the Kargil war), will be no more, for if the same system continues, then India as a nation will be no more in the map of the world?

Incidentally, the Haj subsidy has recently been criticized by none other than the government of Saudi Arabia, which believes the subsidy goes against the spirit of the Shariat Some media reports indicate that, embarrassingly enough, the Haj subsidy issue came up during the visit of External Affairs minister Jaswant Singh to Saudi Arabia last month. Saudi ambassador to India A. Rahman N. Alohaly elaborated upon the fact in the presence of the Indian contingent to his foreign minister Saud Al-Faisal. Al-Faisal is said to have made remonstrating noises. ``This is wrong,'' The minister told the Indian delegation in words to that effect, adding, ``Our ulema will help you in explaining to your people that the subsidy goes against the spirit of the Shariat.''

Media sources also confirm quoting Islamic religious authorities, that, strictly speaking, the Haj pilgrimage may not be ``accepted by God'' if expenditure on transport to the Haj holy sites and on food is not the pilgrim's own.

Even Pakistan, in 1997, discontinued government subsidies to Haj pilgrims as well as goodwill delegations it would send to the holy sites. In a case before the Lahore High Court, Justice Tanvir Ahmed ruled that any expenditure defrayed by the government was contrary to the Shariat and therefore, wrong
Both the Government of India and Indians, as a collective national conscience, must think that India, a nation that aspires to be a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations, and a superpower, need no more barriers. Mr Mushirul Hasan, an Indian historian has rightly quoted Rabindranath Tagore; "Let us announce to the world, that the light of the morning has come, not for entrenching ourselves behind barriers, but for meeting in mutual understanding and trust on the common field of co-operation, never for nourishing a spirit of rejection, but for that glad acceptance which constantly carries in itself the giving out of the best that we have."

A serious Indian needs to think if the Haj Act 1959 has helped India in putting the barriers behind and "giving out the best", by the Indians to the Indians? Think of a fatwa, issued last in March, by five Muslim religious institutions in Hyderabad. The fatwa declared that it was unlawful for a Muslim to act in films. "If a woman gets her head tonsured without any Shariat excuse, it would be violation of Islamic doctrine," it had been decreed by the institutions in an obvious reference to film actress Cabaña Zamia tonsuring her head to act in the film Water. The fatwa further declared that Muslim film stars during the shooting of films performing acts of polytheism must renew their faith. While three out of five religious institutions termed it as atheism and dubbed it as mortal sin, two others defined it as transgression. The five seminaries had issued the fatwas with their seals. The fatwas were also been published in Gawah, an Urdu weekly in Hyderabad. Another case of barrier; venting anger Palestinian style, about 1,000 Muslims, including a fair number of children between three and 10 years, pelted stones from inside a mosque in Hyderabad, shouting "Babri Masjid leke rahenge, Bomb ki holi khelenge" and "Ram mandir todenge".

The Students Islamic Movement of India, (SIMI) which has of late been in the spotlight for its alleged involvement in a series of bombs blasts in Uttar Pradesh, is opposed to democracy "in its existing Western-oriented form" and favouring to the centuries-old caliphate system that once provided governance in the Islamic world. How shocking that SIMI sees Jammu and Kashmir as an international problem and believes that Osama bin Laden has been wrongly labelled a terrorist by the United States of America.

Is it right that India needs to have the Haj Subsidy?

Would it not be ideal to add Rs 150 crores for the rehabilitation project of the recent Kashmir earthquake or in helping the build infrastructure, very basic, like drinking water, roads, schools, hospitals? Do we still have to be reminded that some Indian lady in Rajasthan, even today, have to walk over two miles a day for water?

It is about time India repealed the shameful Act and instead spent the money for the better training of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and instills in the new generation a special pride of being an Indian first and ever be ready to serve the world. There are other pressing national needs where this money can be spent.

India's need of the hour is right leaders who can lead the nation to its Vedic glory, that has not denied any one a shelter in her soil, has always treated every one with equal respect and believed in the principle of mutual peace and co-existence.
The Haj Subsidy has failed to generate a sense of mutual respect and co-existence.
India needs to rise above such divisive policies and make India truly secular.