Sacred journey, sinful passengers: Hajj scams in India

By Omar Khalidi,

The onset of Ramazan is visible in all Muslim localities: large attendance at mosques, restaurants open at early mornings and then again at dusk. The aroma of the food, the taste of savories, the sound of the melodious azans and colorful clothes are inescapable to all five senses. The sacred month will be followed by a break of eight weeks followed by Hajj in Mecca.

As usual the upcoming Haj season will allow bigoted politicians and ignorant media to repeat the charges of Muslim appeasement. The Haj in India has been hijacked by those who want to perpetuate state monopoly over air travel and related politics from Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh. The central government is involved in two Haj matters: Haj travel subsidy and Haj Goodwill Delegation. What exactly is Haj Subsidy? When and why was it initiated? Who is the net beneficiary? Individual haji or the airline carrier? Is it appropriate for a secular state to fund religious travel? Where is the impediment for its termination?

The then Prime Minister Vajpayee with Hajj delegation of 2002 [MilliGazette photo]

First, as everyone knows or ought to know, Hajj—the fifth pillar of Islam is obligatory on male and female Muslims only and only if they are financially capable and physically fit for traveling to Mecca. Individual Muslim alone can determine and decide if they can afford the pilgrimage cost. Islamically, there is no such thing as a “subsidized” Hajj. If performed as such, it is null and void. It is surprising that none of the ulama said anything on this issue, which they ought to have.

India is among the top ten countries sending most Hajis. Until early 1960s when Bombay was connected to Jeddah by air, most pilgrims went by boats runs by the Mogul Line Ltd., a British-controlled company. In 1975, the Shipping Corporation of India, a government undertaking took over the Mogul Line. The oil crisis of the early 1970s made the cost of sea fare higher than airfare, so the ships were abandoned. Instead, the GOI gave Air India monopoly over Hajj travel in 1975. The then prevailing oil crisis further escalated the cost of airfare forcing the government to introduce “Hajj subsidy,” to Air India, not to individual pious pilgrim.

Who exactly pays Hajj subsidy to Air India? The Ministry of External Affairs or the Ministry of Civil Aviation? What is the exact amount? Does it change annually? These are matters of detail, but irrelevant to the principle that state should not subsidize religious pilgrimage of any kind to any place irrespective of religion. In this particular case, the canard that state is paying Muslims to perform Hajj has done immense damage to an already demonized community. A senior Muslim leader like Syed Shahabuddin and the young Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad Asaduddin Owaisi have both expressed the will of the community to terminate the subsidy.

The impediment to Hajj subsidy abolition lies squarely in Air India, a state corporation. The official carrier is afraid of competition. Just as we have rightly abolished privy purses of all maharajas, why has the Air India maharaja made an exception? The Government of India through the Central Hajj Committee should invite biddings from various Indian airlines for Hajj group travel and designate the lowest bidder as the official carrier of the Hajj passengers. Deregulating Hajj travel will end Air India monopoly and terminate the canard that the state is subsidizing Hajj.

Hajj delegation of 2003 [PIB photo]

The second matter in which the GOI is involved in Muslim pilgrimage is the Hajj Goodwill Delegation. It originated in the aftermath of 1965 war with Pakistan. During the Hajj Pakistani diplomats and officials used the occasion of the international Muslim gathering to present their perspective on the unending conflict in Kashmir. The Ministry of External Affairs decided to counter Pakistani version of the conflict by sending a Hajj Goodwill Delegation to Mecca, obviously at state expense. Since its inception in 1966, it is led by a union minister who meets with Saudi counterparts and others. The delegation in early years consisted of five members. Now its numbers have shot to 70, including spouses of the delegates. Who are the members of the Delegation? How does one get selected? On the basis of some qualifications? What do these delegates do while in the Islamic Holy Land?

Months before the onset of Ramazan, the corridors of power, chambers of ministers, and houses of MPs in New Delhi are filled with aspirants to Hajj Delegation. The aspirants are mostly self-seeking politicians, unemployed, rather unemployable maulanas and maulavis seeking a free ride at tax payers’ expense. In the current year 2009, the union government has budgeted as much as Rs. 6 crores for this Delegation cost of travel, accommodation, and incidental expenses. There are only informal qualifications for membership in the Delegation: a wink from a minister, a nod from a powerful politician, the goodwill of a high official. The Official Hajj Delegation strains the resources of the Indian Consulate General in Jeddah, whose primary duty during the Hajj is to look after the well being of pilgrims. Instead, they are compelled to tend to the whims of rich and powerful politicians masquerading as Muslim leaders. . It does not behoove a secular state to use a religious occasion to parade official Muslims—who in any case are busy partying in Jeddah while their begums are on a shopping spree in the malls of Arabia.

It is time to abolish the Hajj Goodwill Delegation. There must be more imaginative ways of accomplishing the original purpose-- countering Pakistani versions of the Kashmir conflict. The Goodwill Delegations are earning the ill-will of Indian Muslims.

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Omar Khalidi is the author of Muslims in Indian Economy, 2006, and Khaki and Ethnic Violence, 2003. Email okhalidi@mit.edu