Andra Pradesh to Pay for Christian Pilgrims to Holy Land

Andra Pradesh government has announced Monday it has decided to pay for Christian Pilgrims to Holy Lands in Israel starting this year.

"My government has decided to extend the Haj pilgrim scheme to Christian minorities also for their religious visits to Christian Holy Lands in Israel," said N D Tiwari, Governor of Andra Pradesh during his address to the joint budget session of the Assembly and Council.

The Haj pilgrim scheme is an Indian government sponsored scheme – where the government pays for Muslims who visit the holy sites in Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Each year many Indian Muslims are able to visit those places with this scheme.

Meanwhile, opposition have accused Y.S.R Reddy, AP Chief Minister who is a Christian of offering sop to minorities ahead of the general and assembly elections scheduled for early next year.

BJP floor leader G Kishan Reddy asked why the CM hadn't acceded to the party's request for a subsidy to Manasarovar pilgrims in the governor's speech. "Why should the government discriminate against the majority community when it came to such matters?" he asked.

Rev. Anthoniraj Thumma, executive secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches, said the proposal “meets an old Christian demand, but the bill on the state budget says nothing about public funding for our schools, which has been blocked for the past ten years," he told Asianews.

A petition in favour of such funds was officially made this year to the chief minister by a delegation of bishops and priests.

However, details of the subsidy are still to be decided, Mohammad Ali Shabbir, the minister for minorities welfare, said on Tuesday.

Christian minority in Andra Pradesh numbers about 12 lakhs (1.2 million) to form about two percent of the 7.6 crore (76 million) strong population.