Pilgrims, Regress

Trust our political parties to rob a pilgrimage of all vestiges of spirituality and convert a soul-stirring exercise to an embarrassing junket. A pilgrimage ought to be a journey of discovery and it is not unusual for it to be associated with considerable hardship. But populist state governments seem to be competing with each other to sponsor pilgrims of all faiths. Justifying their action by citing the precedent of the subsidy on Haj, several state governments have been busy doling out public money to Christians to visit Jerusalem, Muslims to visit Ajmer Sharif and to Hindus for trips to Mansarovar and Rameshwaram.

But then the Supreme Court has already directed the Union government to phase out the Haj subsidy in the next one decade. The court pointed out that the money could be put to better use and added for good measure that the Quran mandated the pilgrimage to Mecca only for those who could afford it. Many of the pilgrims, the bench observed, would feel very uncomfortable if they learnt the extent to which the government was paying for their pilgrimage.

The state governments, however, show no sign of putting the brakes on the insidious trend. What is more, it is no longer about subsidy either. The MP government has set some kind of benchmark by incurring the entire expense, even the offerings made by the pilgrims at Rameshwaram and Ajmer Sharif. TN offered to pay half the flight cost of pilgrims going to Mansarovar. And MP is reportedly toying with the idea of sponsoring pilgrims to Sri Lanka, ostensibly to visit places associated with the Ramayana.

That this is not guided by altruism is borne out by Madhya Pradesh christening the scheme, ‘Mukhya Mantri Teerth Darshan Yojana’. Indeed, if reports are to be believed, photographs of the CM adorn the special coaches in trains commissioned for the pilgrims. As many as 170 attendants, including doctors and other medical staff, accompanied the 1,000-odd pilgrims to Rameshwaram.

While it is not unconstitutional for states to spend public money for people’s welfare, it is strange that the decisions are taken by a small coterie and without much debate or discussion. But surely there must be some method in their madness? Nor can one lose sight of the perversity of it all. Governments, which presumably can do nothing to help people overcome their poverty, can pay for a pilgrimage before they die.

One reason why populist schemes are popular with politicians in power is the ease with which they can be manipulated and money siphoned off. Schemes to distribute bicycles, laptops, saris and TV sets look great on paper and on the idiot box. But suppliers may not always supply the promised quantity and yet get paid for them, sharing the windfall with everyone on the way. Even hard-boiled auditors may find it difficult to deduce whether five thousand pilgrims landed at Rameshwaram or ten.

Uttam Sengupta is deputy editor, Outlook; E-mail your columnist: sengupta AT outlookindia.com