The Constitution gives the minorities a fundamental right to conserve their culture. Religion is a prime source of this culture. But what happens if the economic resources garnered in the name of religion are used by a minority to exploit the minority itself? The answer may partly be provided by the order of the Monoplies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission directing an inquiry into the Haj scam by the Central Haj Committee constituted under the Haj Act, 1959. Notice has been issued to the Central Haj Committee, the Chairman of the Central Haj Committee at Bombay, Salmatullah, and the Union Ministry of External Affairs on the basis of statements presented before the Commission by several Muslims who went for Haj after paying all the sums demanded by the Haj Committee.They allegedly found themselves cheated in Saudi Arabia while prominent Muslims in the Committee's name enjoyed themselves at five star hotels. While issuing notice after being convinced that a prima facie case exists against the Haj Committee and its Chairman, the Commission has stated that "it is also in the interests of justice to restrain the Chairman from discharging his duties as Chairman."The petitioner before the Commission, G.M. Farooqui, has pointed out that each Muslim wanting to do the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca, Madina, Nina and Arafat in Saudi Arabia, has to pay to the Haj Committee the airfare from India to Jeddah and vice versa. He has also to pay in advance to the Committee the charges for air conditioned bus travel from Jeddah to Mecca, Mecca to Mina. Mina to Arafat, Arafat to Muzdalfa, Muzdalfa to Mina, Mina to Mecca, Mecca to Mina, Mina to Mecca, Mecca to Medina and Medina to Jeddah.The total travel distance in the heat of around 50 degree centigrade is about 1200 km. The prospective Muslim pilgrims also pay months in advance to the Haj Committee either Rs 18,000 per person for accommodation within 600 metres of Haramsharif or Rs 12,350 per person for accommodation within 800 metres of Haramsharif in Saudia Arabia. They are also made to pay for an Arab guide without whom one cannot move a single step in Saudia Arabia. Payment is also taken for medical help which may be needed in the sweltering heat of a foreign land. In this manner, from about 56,000 pilgrims a sum of around Rs 60,000 each is charged. This puts about Rs 3.36 crore in the hands of the Central Haj Committee without any accountability whatsoever towards the pilgrims.According to the Haj Guide issued to the pilgrims, there is an assurance that at every stage of the pilgrimage someone from the Haj Committee, the Indian Haj Office in Saudia Arabia and the diplomatic mission would be available to sort out any problem faced by the pilgrims. Staff would be there to ensure that the pilgrims get their due in terms of the right kind of accommodation and the building in which they are housed would have a supervisor. However, advocate W.A. Nomani, counsel for the petitioner, pointed out that the tribulation of the Hajis begins from the Jeddah airport where they are hounded forcibly into a cage by the authorities and released only after several hours. There is none from the Haj Committee or the diplomatic mission. But the misery continues when derelict buses are given for transport to put them in utterly dilapidated buildings in which women and men must use bathrooms without doors. For the subsequent travels there is no guide and no bus and the Hajis who have already paid in India for their travel are forced to pay for private buses and sit on the roofs of such buses. There is no medical aid whatsoever and any protest invites the wrath of the officials of the Haj Office or the Committee.In a day to day account journalist S.M. Haider, who was selected by the Committee to be a sevak for the Hajis, describes in the weekly newspaper Bhor Mail how he and the Hajis were put to endless hunger, thirst and physical pain in Saudia Arabia. Meanwhile, prominent Muslim politicians like Farooq Abdullah, Amar Rizvi, Salman Khurshid, IAS officer R.H. Khwaja and others were having five star comforts as parts of a Goodwill Mission for the Hajis. Salman Khurshid tried to help the journalist who had been robbed of all including his PIB accreditation card. At the Maqtab office the Hajis forced their way into it when they could get no bus for going to Mina and saw to their shock their compatriots lounging in air conditioned comfort. At the Mina security camp, behind a wall of security other prominent people were living in air conditioned tents bearing plates of family names. Nomani has asked for the records of the Haj Committee for indulging in unfair, restrictive and monopolistic practices in violation of the MRTP Act. He has pointed out how hundreds of Hajis died in the fire at Mina. Journalist Haider's detailed account annexed to the petition states how Air India on the return flight herded them like cattle in the presence of prominent Muslim leader Shahabuddin.The Commission in its order has specifically recorded the contention of Nomani that the Chairman of the Haj Committee has managed to continue for the last eight years with the help of powerful politicians and the Committee has become a centre of corruption at the cost of pilgrims and the benefit of a few Committee members and politicians.
