Haj 2022 process in India to be 100 per cent digital: Union minister Naqvi
Mumbai, Oct 10: Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said the entire Haj 2022 process in India will be 100 per cent digital.
Naqvi on Saturday inaugurated an online booking facility at the Haj House in Mumbai and later in a statement said India sends the second largest number of Haj pilgrims after Indonesia.
He said the Haj could not take place in 2020 and this year due to COVID-19 and decision taken by the Saudi Arabia government in view of the pandemic.
The Haj 2022 will be announced after consultations with different departments concerned in the upcoming Haj review meeting to be held in New Delhi on October 21, the statement said.
Officials from the minority affairs, external affairs, health and civil aviation ministries, India's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, India's consul general in Jeddah and other senior officials will be present in the upcoming Haj review meeting in the national capital, it said.
Arrangements for special training for Haj 2022 regarding COVID-19 protocols and health and hygiene were being made in India and Saudi Arabia for the pilgrims, he said.
"The entire Haj 2022 process in India will be 100 per cent digital," the minister said.
More than 700 women had applied for Haj 2021 under without 'Mehram' (male companion) and over 2,100 women applied for Haj 2020 under the same category. Their applications will be eligible for Haj 2022 also if they want to go on the pilgrimage, Naqvi said.
Other women can also apply for Haj 2022 under without 'Mehram' category, he said, adding that all women under the category will be exempted from lottery system.
The minister on Saturday discussed preparations about Haj 2022 in a meeting with senior officials of the Haj Committee of India here.
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BJP has history of ‘contradictory alliances’, says BK Hariprasad
Bengaluru: Congress MLC B. K. Hariprasad has launched a sharp attack on the BJP, accusing the party of hypocrisy over its criticism of alliance politics in Tamil Nadu.
In a post on X on Friday, Hariprasad said BJP leader B. L. Santhosh criticising the Congress party’s alliance politics in Tamil Nadu was “not just laughable, but the height of political contradiction.”
He said the Congress has always joined hands with like-minded parties to protect secular and democratic values in the country.
Hariprasad questioned the BJP over several of its past and present alliances across the country. Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tripura, Bihar and Maharashtra, he accused the BJP of sharing power with parties it had earlier criticised.
He alleged that the BJP had aligned with separatist and corruption-linked political forces in different states for political gains.
“The BJP, which speaks against alliances today, should first look at its own political history,” he said, adding that the party’s record was full of “contradictions and changing stands.”
Hariprasad also accused the BJP of using central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Department and CBI as political tools to target opposition leaders, topple governments and influence electoral mandates.
He further claimed that the people of Tamil Nadu had strongly rejected the BJP and its ideology in the recent election.
“Congress forms alliances to protect the Constitution, secularism and national unity, while the BJP enters into alliances only for power,” he said.
