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Diplomatic payoff: India's Haj quota highest this year

The quota rise comes at a time when Saudi Arabia has decreased quota for many other countries, citing infrastructural works.

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India’s Haj quota has been increased for the second consecutive year, the government said
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After securing a sea route to Mecca, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Haj diplomacy goes one step further as India's Haj quota has been increased for the second consecutive year, making it the highest for independent India.

The quota rise comes at a time when Saudi Arabia has decreased quota for many other countries, citing infrastructural works.

Meanwhile Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who had been in close touch with Saudi Arabian establishment, following up on the PM's diplomatic moves, has also achieved the feat of reversing the trend of decreasing quota under the previous UPA regime, when the seats were decreased by almost 25,000.

"We have succeeded in getting India's Haj quota increased for the consecutive second year and now, for the first time after the Independence, record 1,75,025 pilgrims from India will go to Haj 2018. Three years ago, during the Congress regime, India's Haj quota was about 1,36,020 which has been increased to record 1,75,025," Naqvi said.

Naqvi ascribed the success to PM Modi's "growing popularity" and "India's cordial and strengthened relations with Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations under the leadership of the PM."

Earlier, as part of the new Haj policy of the country, the ministry had succeeded in doing away with the 'mehram' (male companion) system for women above 45 who wanted to go on pilgrimage.

"About 3,55,000 applications have been received for Haj 2018. For the first time Muslim women from India will go to Haj without 'mehram'. More than 1,300 women have applied to go without 'mehram' and all of them will be allowed to proceed. Women above 45 years, who wish to go for Haj but who don't have a male companion, are allowed to travel in groups of four or more," Naqvi said.

The move was appreciated by PM Modi in his radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat'.

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