VIJAYAWADA: Muslim Aikya Vedika on Wednesday strongly condemned the Union government’s decision to withdraw Haj subsidy. The committee demanded the resignation of Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi for supporting the Centre’s move.Addressing a press conference here, committee State president SK Jaleel said that the subsidy was created to help Muslims undertake the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca in order to fulfil their religious duties as stipulated in Islam. He said that even Britishers provided assistance to Haj pilgrims by operating ships from sea ports of Bombay and Calcutta. After Independence, the subsidy continued under the Haj Committee Act of 1959, he said.
“Contrary to its claims of supporting minorities, NDA government’s latest act of withdrawing subsidy for Haj pilgrimage showed its true colour. ‘What is wrong in giving subsidy to Haj, which is a meagre amount as it is, when several hundreds of crores are spent on Kumbh Mela, Pushkaralu, yatras to Kailash Manas Sarovar among others,” he questioned.
Jaleel said that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu being an ally of the NDA government should intervene in the matter and protect the interests of Muslims. The committee demanded that the Union government enter into a pact with Saudi Arabia to facilitate Haj pilgrimage by road and sea instead of airways alone.
“A total of 2,744 candidates have been selected by Andhra Pradesh State Haj Committee for the annual Haj pilgrimage in 2018,’’ said State Haj Committee chairman Momeen Ahmad Hussain. He participated in the selection of candidates by draw of lots at the sub-collector’s conference hall on Wednesday.
The draw was conducted for only three districts - Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Anantapur. Candidates from 10 other districts were selected without draw because less applications were received this year. Andhra Pradesh Haj committee selects the candidates every year based on the applications received.
He said the Haj pilgrims from AP and Telangana did not receive subsidy in 2017 also.