Welcome excision: After Haj, govt must cut subsidies to other events

Scrapping the Haj subsidy alone will do nothing to enhance India's global reputation for multiculturalism

The Narendra Modi government’s decision to scrap the Haj subsidy, in response to a 2012 court order recommending its phase-out, and redirect the money towards minority education is an unexceptionable one within India’s secular rubric. One hopes the government will apply this secular value across the board. The Haj subsidy had become a contentious issue in recent years, upheld as an example of minority appeasement by majoritarian politicians. This remains open to interpretation, since the Haj subsidy, which is paid to state-owned Air India and not to individual pilgrims, had its origins in the oil shock of the 1970s and,