According to Syed Shahabuddin, the government policy of subsidy for haj pilgrims was prompted by the steep rise in oil prices in the early ‘70s, leading to a big hike in travel fares across the board. The subsidy, Shahabuddin claims, was not in response to any Muslim plea or demand but the government’s own decision. The new policy was reportedly prompted specially in consideration of Muslims from the lower economic strata who traveled by ship. But since the airfare had also shot up steeply, the idea was mooted of a temporary subsidy for air travel, to be phased out over a few years. Not only does the subsidy continue till date, but the subsidy amount, per haji and in terms of total cost to the exchequer, has risen steeply over the years.
Through the ‘70s and the ‘80s, shipping companies finding their business less and less economic, gradually moved out of the business. As a result, more and more hajis have had to travel by air. The year 1986 was the last year when a passenger ship took pilgrims for haj.
In 1986-’87, Air India Chartered Ltd. charges for hajis were Rs.3,852, while the amount of government subsidy for the period is not available. With increasing airfare over the years, the amount the pilgrims paid for air travel (through the Haj Committee) was raised from year to year until 1992. But despite several hikes in IATA fare for international travel since then, the hajis’ share remains pegged at the same Rs.12,000 that was charged in 1992.
According to a newspaper report which the CC has not been able to independently confirm, in 1992, the government paid Rs.2,000 to the airline as subsidy. This year, while the hajis still paid only Rs.12,000, the government’s subsidy per haji shot up to Rs.20,000. In other words, the subsidy for haj has spiralled from 16.7 per cent in 1992 to a whopping 62.5 per cent now.
The Narasimha Rao government apparently saw this as one way of assuaging Muslim sentiments inflamed with the Congress government’s inaction during the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the countrywide riots that followed. Ironically, the two successive BJP-led governments, too, hiked the subsidy amount since 1998. The subsidy per haji this year was over Rs.900 more this year compared to last year. Not surprisingly, the Bajrang Dal and the VHP have accused a member of their own parivar — the BJP — of “Muslim appeasement”.
Not one of the large number of Muslims CC spoke to could offer any justification for subsidy at least in the case of those who can afford to pay themselves. The question of increased subsidy, however, has to be differently understood. For example, presently, the normal return fare on regular flights is around Rs.36,000. This year Air India has been paid a little over Rs.32,000 per passenger — a discount of less than 15 per cent on its charter flights. On the other hand, after discount for bulk bookings, private tour agencies pay around Rs.24,000 only. Mohamed Amin Khandwani, chairman, Maharashtra Commission for Minorities, who was the Haj Committee chairman between 1983 and 1989, claims that during his tenure, Air India and Saudi Airlines, used to offer a 30 per cent discount. Syed Shahabuddin who is well-informed on the subject argues that even today the airlines should be able to profitably run charter flights for hajis even after offering 33 per cent discount.
Were such a discount to be successfully negotiated, the airfare per passenger would work out to Rs.24,000 per passenger. In that case, the government of India would pay a subsidy of only Rs.12,000 per passenger, assuming that is should be subsiding haj in the first place.
Archived from Communalism Combat, March 2001 Year 8 No. 67, Cover Story 3