NEW DELHI: With the new Haj policy allowing Muslim women to travel alone on pilgrimage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said about 1,300 women have applied to perform Haj without ‘mahram’ or male guardian and that the Centre will ensure that all women who have applied will be allowed to visit Mecca.
Speaking during his monthly radio talk ‘Mann ki Baat’, the PM said that earlier it was mandatory for Muslim women to have a male guardian to take the holy pilgrimage
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said two key measures taken by his government had ended years of injustice against Muslim women. Calling the policy of allowing women to perform Haj only in the company of a male guardian “discriminatory”, the Prime Minister, in his monthly radio talk ‘Mann ki Baat’, said his government had removed the restriction and ended the “injustice” being perpetrated against Muslim women.
With the new Haj policy allowing Muslim women to travel alone to pilgrimage, Modi said about 1,300 women had applied to perform Haj without ‘mahram’ or male guardian and that the Centre will ensure that all women who had applied be allowed to visit Mecca.
He said removal of the restriction of having a male guardian or mehram may appear as a “small thing” but such issues “have a far-reaching impact on our image as a society”.
Speaking at a separate event, the PM, in an indirect reference to the Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Bill, another reform initiative of his government vis-a-vis Muslim women, said they had got freedom after years of legal battle.
In his radio address, Modi said, “Why this discrimination? And when I went into the depth of the matter, I was surprised to find that even after 70 years of our Independence, we had imposed these restrictions.”
Pointing out that such practice does not exist even in many Islamic countries, Modi said, “Our Ministry of Minority Affairs issued corrective measures and we ameliorated this restriction by phasing out a tradition that had been in place for 70 years.”
“I have suggested to the Ministry of Minority Affairs that they should ensure that all women who have applied to travel alone be allowed to perform Haj. Usually, there is a lottery system for selection of Haj pilgrims. But I would like that single woman pilgrims should be excluded from this lottery system and given a chance as a special category,” the PM said.
Delivering the inaugural address at the 85th Sivagiri pilgrimage celebrations, at Sivagiri Mutt in Varkala in Kerala through video conference, Modi said, “The hardship faced by Muslim mothers and sisters over triple talaq is not hidden from anyone. After years of struggle, they have found a way of freeing hemselves from (the practice) of instant triple talaq.”