Shabbir Ali asks Asaduddin to apologize over Haj subsidy withdrawal

Hyderabad, Jan.13 (Maxim News): Congress leader Shabbir Ali here on Friday said by accepting the Sangh Parivar backed BJP move to withdraw the Haj subsidy , the true colours of Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s has come to light.

Urging the state and central governments to not endorse the BJP governments move on Haj subsidy the Leader of Opposition in the Telangana legislative council demanded the MIM chief to withdraw his statement and extend unconditional apologies to the Muslim community .

Speaking to scribes in the CLP, he said that the Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief whose income has spiralled from just Rs. 8 lakhs in 2004 to Rs.35 lakhs in 2008 and Rs. 4.5 crore in 2014 (as per election affidavits) may well not require the Haj subsidy. But the Haj subsidy granted by the British in 1932 is a boon to poor Muslims and retired officials for one Haj pilgrimage in their life time.

He said it has been a long standing dream and conspiracy of the Sangh Parivar and the BJP to withdraw the Haj subsidy and it appears that the MIM chief has walked into their trap in his megalomaniac desire to expand the MIM in Maharashtra , Karnataka and other states by bagging non-secular vote banks.

The amount of Haj subsidy was just a miniscule amount of Rs.690 crore for facilitating just 1.7 lakh Haj pilgrims. Compared to other huge expenses made by the BJP governments for other dharmic and charity programs, this was just pittance . ‘ It is a shame that the MIM chief is supporting such a conspiracy hatched by the Sangh parivar against poor Muslims to deny them a facility for practicing their religious beliefs as guaranteed by the Indian constitution’, he further said.

He also questioned the logic behind withdrawing the Haj subsidy while the government did not consider such moves towards the huge expenses it made benefits of Char Dham, Manasa Sarovar and Amarnath . Why is that the BJP government is picking its grudge against Haj subsidy and not others and why is the MIM chief eagerly supporting it “, he quipped .

He said the welfare and development of the Muslim community was a constitutionally provided mandate of all elected governments in a democracy. By cancelling Haj subsidy of Rs.690 crore in an annual budget of lakhs of crores the union government can hardly bring any sustainable contribution to the Muslim welfare in the country. During the Congress regime in under AP CM YSR Minority welfare had got more funding than the Haj subsidy, he added. (Maxim News)