In continuation of his outreach to the Muslim community, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, while addressing the 103rd edition of his radio programme, 'Mann ki Baat', thanked the Saudi Arabia government for making changes in the Haj policy and said due to this change, over 4,000 Muslim women from India performed Haj without 'mehram' (male companion). He said many of them had written to them to express their joy and give their blessings.
"There are some letters that bring you a lot of joy and inspiration. The letters that my Muslim mothers and sisters have written to me, after returning from Haj, are like that. Their journey this year was very special in many ways. These are women who have been able to go to Haj without a male companion that was not allowed earlier. I want to thank the Saudi Arabia government for this change in policy," he said, calling the shift "transformative" as the number of women going for Haj from India without men accompanying them was not "50 or 100" but over 4,000.
Amid international scrutiny on human rights record and treatment of women, Saudi Arabia in 2019 had said that it would allow women to travel without the permission of a male relative.
Haj has been at the centre of political flashpoints in India. While the central government decided to do away with the discretionary Haj quota that was available with people in top constitutional posts and the minority affairs ministry, the Congress has been blaming the government for doing away with Haj subsidy that the centre has said was being misused.
Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani recently said a decision was taken to end discretionary quota in Haj under PM's resolve to end VIP culture. She also said her government made several changes in Haj yatra guidelines keeping in mind the interest of the people, including disallowing a VIP delegation that visits Saudi Arabia every year.
As many as 4,314 Indian women went for Haj without 'Mahram (male companion)' this year, the largest since the reform in 2018. The Minority Affairs Ministry had made comprehensive arrangements for the health of the Haj pilgrims with health desks at airports and medical screening by government doctors.
Each year, Saudi Arabia hosts around 25 lakh to 30 lakh pilgrims from across the globe to visit Mecca and India sends the third largest contingent of pilgrims in the world.
A quota of 1,75,025 Haj pilgrims was allotted to India. The annual pilgrimage took place in June-end.
Muslim women have been at the centre of the BJP's outreach towards the community, starting with the centre's move to criminalise Triple Talaq.
The PM's mention of Muslim women came a day after the BJP appointed former VC of Aligarh Muslim University Tariq Mansoor as one of its Vice presidents.
Mansoor has been working with the RSS on its efforts to promote teachings of Mughal prince Dara Shikoh on peaceful coexistence of Hindus and Muslims. As the VC of AMU during the anti CAA rights, his role was criticised by many students for being pro-government.
Mansoor is also a pasmanda Muslim, a non Ashraf Muslim - BJP has been trying to woo the Pasmanda Muslims for a while now.
The PM, specifically speaking in Bhopal recently, while making a pitch for the Uniform Civil Code had listed the names of the Muslim Pasmanda communities that were never given a voice by the opposition.
Apart from Mansoor, Abdulla Kutty is also a vice president with the BJP. He was appointed last year and also heads the Haj committee.
Formerly with the CPM and Congress, Abdulla Kutty has always been vocal in praising the PM's model of governance, and this works well for the BJP that has been trying to strengthen its position politically and ideologically in Kerala against the communist forces.
