Wishing the pilgrims much spiritual joy.

Indian Government pay for this adventure

@David: Adventure for you Mr David. A spiritual journey for the muslims.....

Happy pilgrimage, May Allah bless us all .....

The Indian government must not subsidize any religion.

@David Pilgrims pay for the pilgrimage personally. Often it is from their life time savings to perform this holy journey. Little understanding from you would be appreciated.

@David ,lies lies lies,when Indian Hindus go for their pilgrimage ,does Indian Govt; pay for their journey?if not, do not spread hateful lies against a religious minority in your so called democracy.

@Shaukat actually they do, one reporter from pakistan did a report on this and said that why doesn't our government do this for poor muslims.

saudi arabia gains 8.5 billion from this according to some reports

@Akhlesh Yes the travel tickets are subsidized by Govt. of India.

@Shaukat Not lie it is true Indian govt pays for the pilgrimage,its paid from tax payer money, it was introduced by congress long before for minority appeasement . Don't know when this will stop.

@Junaid @Shaukat: It's a fact that Indian government subsidizes Haj for Indian Muslims by more than INR 10,000 per head. This facility has not been extended to any other religion.

The total subsidy received by Indian Muslim from Indian government is approximately USD 1900 or INR 100,000, so I missed a zero in my earlier comment. Every year 120,000 Muslims are benefitted by this subsidy.

@Shaukat no.government does not pay for Hindu pilgrims. .but it surely subsidizize huj..n it's no bad mouthing against my Muslim brothers.. bt state shld nt favor or discriminate fr/against any religion. .. n in our SO CALLED democracy. .people dnt hv to fool around others fr revolution jst to get counting of votes correct. .we hv problm n we are in positive direction to solve thm. .. unlike pakistn we hv never been in denial which is d inherent way of Pakistan to solve every problm .jst deny d problm.

why doesn't Dawn publish my most innocuous of comments. All I said was this "Iam very happy for the Indian muslims who are going on the Hajj pilgrimate. By the way, the Indian government does subsidize the Hajj pilgrims from India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haj_subsidy

Devotion is God, regardless of the religion. Knowing oneself is the true religion of any human being.

Indian govt provide subsidized air ticket to every traveller . its not lie go check urself .

@Junaid you are wrong. This journey is subsidized with tax payers money by granting reduced airfare, subsidized jam entities. This is the reason for a lotto on who gets the subsidy

Wish them best of luck! Hope it awakens their conscience. Although, don't like the fact that to gain some votes, politicians use it as tool by providing subsidies. Most of the time, a Haji ends up paying zero sum. Apart from the govt. subsidy even some political parties like "SP", "RJD" "JDU" "Congress" and in rare cases even "BJP" sponsors the whole trip. It is completely wrong. In fact, Muslims should refrain from accepting this money especially when it is provided as bribe and not a help. Haj must only be done on by one's own hard earned money. If anyone, who really needs to help, is Saudi king with its riches. He can simply wave off the Visa fee and lower down air tickets too.

Great pictures! These touched my heart (I am born a Kashmiri Pandit),

@Saima But at least we don't tax people for going to Haj

I know Indian Muslims get a subsidy for the Haj Travel.... I have an Indian muslim friend who told me that his grand parents went for haj with government subsidy.... must say, if we think dispassionately then indian muslims are way better than muslims in pakistan..... besides there some problems with muslims in india but they treat their minorities much better than we do...

@NORI Let state run Air India also not have a monopoly....let there be an open tender for whichever carrier will airlift the pilgrims...no need for GOI 's subsidy.

oh wow! really stunning, Well i want to wish them a safe journey and all prayers and holly activities they are going to carry out in the name of struggle for Allah. i have already submitted my application although but insha'Allah i will be through it as i reside in Saudi arabia. Alhumdulillah

Muslims getting better treatment in India than Jinnah's land? No wonder Jinnah's family did not migrate with him to Pakistan.

I am a Brahmin Hindu and I do not find anything objectionable in the subsidy to Haj pilgrims. The subsidy is for airfare. Hindus going to Varanasi or Mt. Kailash do not have to fly and spend on airfare. This is a historical benefit granted to Muslims and is a small part of Government budget and we should not be mean. Unlike Hinduism or Christianity this pilgrimage is a religious duty specified in the Quran.

@Junaid no dear. these pilgrimages are subsidized to a large extent by Indian govt.

government should take care other minorities also

@nick yes, it subsidizes every traveller on Haj to Mecca and rest of the tax payers have a problem with it

@Shridhar Subrahmanyam nobody says they cannot go but why taxpayers must subsidize the trip. Does Saudi give a free trip to them because it is every Muslim to make a trip. No and rightly so. Nobody objects to other Muslims or Brahmins giving money to the pilgrims for the trip but it is not for Government to do it. Govt should not do it to any religion.

@Tamilselvan : Agree with you. GOI is in the business of running the govt., not pilgrimage running business. Either provide subsidies for Christians to go to Vatican, Hindus to Benares (whether air/train or whatever), Sikhs to the golden temple or shrines in Pakistan, Buddhist, Jains to their holy places or scrap this partisan appeasement.

A treat to eyes. Departure for Haj. Our Kashmiri brothers Happy Journey Yogi

I m happy 2 know that. Yogi

Indian government does not pay for Hindu pilgrims to visit temples and Shrines . Yes, it subsidizes travel to Hajj for all Indian muslims

To those claiming that only Muslims are provided subsidy for their religious pilgrimage, the Central Gov also provide subsidies to the Hindu pilgrims visiting Kailash Mansarovar. And there has been subsidies sometimes for Amarnath yatra too. Don't be so petty.

@David,You must mind your language

@nick so you all may be right...........So let us start a debate of how much money does an indian govt.provides to an individual for performing the hajj.

@Shaukat It is fact that GOI pays subsidy amount for HAJJ pilgrimage to the MUSLIMS. The scheme is running long back since 1975.

@Akhlesh ..more appropriate word would be ""subside""

I have no objection that the Indian government provides subsidy to Muslims for their pilgrimage to Mecca. I know when they have completed their pilgrimage, they will bless the land called India. Indian Muslims are our Muslims, there have been so many terrorist activities across the world, not a single Muslim's name has come up from India. I am proud of the Indian Government that they have this subsidy available for Muslims. Happy Pilgrimage. Ram.T

the last pic as i saw i reminded of my late grand mother and here come tears in my eyes.. i miss my grand mother very much :'(