India’s right wing ruling party, the BJP (Bharitiya Janata Party) considers the Haj pilgrimage as a prestigious religious rite and is paying special attention to pilgrims’ services. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj have specifically instructed all concerned officials to accord priority to pilgrims’ services, Arif Baig, leader of the Indian Haj Goodwill delegation said here recently.

“It is for the first time that a senior official from the Ministry of External Affairs was sent to Jeddah to oversee the returning flight schedules,” said Baig, who has also served as union minister and is a senior member of the BJP.

Addressing a press conference held here Sunday, he said: “Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of the previous BJP-led government had mooted to expand the number of embarkation points in all states of the country so pilgrims did not need to travel to Mumbai to board Haj flights.”

He added that Modi had instructed Air India, the country’s flag carrier and the Foreign Affairs ministry to ensure that this year’s Haj pilgrimage would be the best and most hassle-free than ever before.

Baig also said that for the first time Air India had kept two flights on standby to ferry returning Haj pilgrims and also deployed large-sized aircrafts in case of a delay in the scheduled flights.

Indian Consul General B.S. Mubarak said that India is preparing to provide food catering to all pilgrims next year as instructed by the Saudi Haj Ministry. He also said that the menu will be selected on the basis of pilgrims’ food habits.

However, he expressed concerns about the possibility of the food not being able to reach Makkah in time due to traffic congestion.

Some 366 flights are carrying departing pilgrims from Madinah and Jeddah airports with 99,816 pilgrims passing through the two gateways.

Air India and Saudia are operating 233 and 133 flights respectively where 50,838 pilgrims boarded the flights from Jeddah and 48,978 pilgrims departed for home from Madinah.

Mubarak said that some 3, 49,351 out patients were treated in Makkah, 28,497 patients in Madinah and 722 were treated by Indian medical missions in Jeddah.

He also said that this year there were six new babies born to Indian pilgrims during their stay in the Kingdom while 111 were reported dead.

The Indian consul general said that documents proving ownership claims for Rubats (charity accommodation) in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah is a big challenge for the government.

Mubarak explained that some hundreds of years ago, several Indian princes built accommodation facilities in the holy cities and now the government is faced with the task of working out the ownership of these Rubats. He added that Sushma Swaraj, the foreign affairs minister, is actively looking into the matter.

Meanwhile, deputy leader of the goodwill delegation and BJP Minorities Cell President Abdul Rasheed Ansari refuted allegations that the BJP administration is persecuting Muslims in the country. He said that the BJP is committed to maintaining religious harmony. He also said that it will make efforts to enhance the Haj quota by reducing the number of private tour operators.

Some 135,914 Indian pilgrims performed Haj this year of which 99,914 came through the government-run Haj committee and 36,000 came through private tour operators.