Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju urged to intervene as more than 42,000 Hajj pilgrims left in lurch

Only around 10,000 of 52,507 pilgrims, who had opted for travel to Mecca through private operators, were able to register to proceed with their journey between June 4 and 9.

STC NEWS MONITORING DESK
NEW DELHI, MAY 23 (STC): Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) national minority morcha Jamal Siddiqui has appealed to Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to intervene in the case of 42,000 Hajj pilgrims who had booked their travel through private operators “left in the lurch”.
Siddiqui had received representations on the issue from All India Ulama and Mashaikh Board that only around 10,000 of 52,507 pilgrims, who had opted for travel to Mecca through private operators, were able to register to proceed with their journey between June 4 and 9.
Demanding action against private tour operators, Siddiqui wrote to Rijiju: “For the 2025 Haj pilgrimage, 52,507 seats were part of the quota of private tour operators. But due to their negligence and incapability, the Saudi government had done away with this quota. After your efforts, only a quota of 10,000 seats could be achieved.”
Siddiqui said, “For such negligence related to such pious work, the quota under private operators should be cancelled for good, given to the Hajj Committee (of India) and the responsible private tour operators should be issued fines in addition to being blacklisted…”
(STC)