India’s Muslim community welcomes removal of VIP Hajj quota

Members of India’s Muslim community have welcomed the government’s decision to scrap a “VIP quota” for Hajj, saying this will help open up spots for more pilgrims.

Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam that every able-bodied Muslims must perform at least once in their life, if they have the means. The pilgrimage to Makkah has historically been one of the world’s largest religious gatherings.

About 500 seats were previously allocated by India’s Hajj Committee to people in top constitutional posts each Hajj season, including the president, prime minister and ministers.

Indian Federal Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday said that the government had decided to scrap the discretionary quota in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “resolve to end VIP culture” in the country.

India has been plagued by a VIP culture for decades, which allowed certain people unbridled privileges due to their political, social or financial status.

The country has more than 200 million Muslims and every year, at least 150,000 from the country embark on the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.