[1]Union minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid said Tuesday there was a need to establish a system across India under which people could go for the Haj with their own resources and at the right price.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference on Haj management, Khurshid also said he was willing to hold discussions on setting up a Haj corporation on the lines of the one operating in Malaysia.
Khurshid, who welcomed the Supreme Court’s recent order phasing out the Haj subsidy, said the subsidy was actually given to airlines while one community was blamed for it.
“There is no role for subsidy — a lot of people have said this. Even otherwise, this subsidy is given to airlines while a single community is blamed for it,” Khurshid said.
“The new arrangement should be such where there is no subsidy and Haj is possible at the right price, and people can go to Haj with their own resources and money... Even the Supreme Court had said something on similar lines,” he added.
On the proposal for the formation of a Haj corporation, the minister said it was an idea which could be discussed.
The conference was organised by the Forum For Haj Pilgrimage Management in India, headed by Rajya Sabha deputy chairman K. Rahman Khan. It proposed a Haj corporation in India on the lines of Malaysia’s Tabung Haji, which has been successfully utilising the savings of millions of Muslims to facilitate a smooth Haj pilgrimage.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/haj0jpgcropdisplayjpg-922