Bengaluru, June 21: The first flight of the Hajj pilgrims leaving from the state in 2018 would leave for Madina from Mangaluru airport on July 21, said Minority Development, Hajj and Wakf Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan.

After holding a meeting with the officials at the State Hajj Committee office here on Thursday, the Minister said that total three flights would fly to Madina from Mangaluru airport. Apart from Mangaluru, the pilgrims would also fly from Bengaluru airport in 15 flights from August 1 to 15. The journey would be officially inaugurated at Hajj Bhavan in Tirumenahalli in the city on July 31. Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy would inaugurate the flight journey, while Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Opposition Leader in the Rajya Sabha Gulam Nabi Azad and other national leaders would be presented, he said.

Total 540 pilgrims of Gulbarga region would leave for Madina through Hyderabad airport from August 1 and pilgrims from Belagavi region would leave from Goa airport from July 26 to 28, he said.

This time, total 18,000 persons applied for Hajj pilgrimage from the state. But total 6624 persons allotted from the state by the central government were selected through lottery and reservation, he said.

Food Ministers meeting

The Central government has convened a meeting of the Food Ministers of all states in New Delhi on July 29 and 30. He would also participate in the meeting. At this time, he would also discuss with Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj on getting additional quota for Hajj pilgrims from the state, he said.

Additional fee is being collected from the Hajj pilgrims from the state and it might cause additional burden on them. He would discuss the issue with the Union Minister and Indian Hajj Committee, the Minister said.

As the State Haj Committee building is old one, the office would be shifted to the newly built Hajj Bhavan after the completion of the process of Hajj pilgrimage. After demolishing the old structure, he would discuss with the senior leaders of the community on constructing the new building, he said.

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New Delhi, Sep 24: The Congress on Tuesday cited BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's purported remarks on farm laws to allege that the ruling party was making efforts to bring back the three laws that were repealed in 2021, and asserted that Haryana will give a befitting reply to it.

The Congress shared on X an undated video of Ranaut in which she is purportedly saying in Hindi, "Farm laws that have been repealed should be brought back. I think this may get controversial. The laws in farmers' interest be brought back. Farmers should themselves demand this (to bring farm laws back) so that there is no hindrance to their prosperity.

"Farmers are a pillar of strength in India's progress. Only in some states, they had objected to farm laws. I appeal with folded hands that farm laws should be brought back in the interest of farmers."

In a post in Hindi along with the video, the Congress said, "The three black laws imposed on farmers should be brought back: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has said this. More than 750 farmers of the country were martyred, only then did the Modi government wake up and these black laws were withdrawn."

Now BJP MPs are planning to bring back these laws, the Congress alleged.

"The Congress is with the farmers. These black laws will never return, no matter how hard Narendra Modi and his MPs try," the opposition party said on X.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also shared the video of Ranaut on X and said, "'All three farm laws should be brought back': BJP MP Kangana Ranaut. More than 750 farmers were martyred while protesting against the three black farmer laws. Efforts are being made to bring them back."

"We will never let that happen. Haryana will answer first," she said in an apparent reference to the assembly polls in Haryana.

Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also shared the video on X and said it was the BJP's "real thinking".

"How many times will you deceive the farmers, you two-faced people?" Khera said in a post in Hindi.

The three laws -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act -- were repealed in November 2021.

The farmers' protest started at the fag-end of November 2020 and ended after Parliament repealed the three laws. The legislations came into force in June 2020 and were repealed in November 2021.