Smriti Irani Visits Madinah and Saudia Arabia
Union Minister for Minority Affairs Smriti Irani has recently visited Medina during her two day trip to Saudi Arabia.
She’s been accompanied by Minister State for External Affairs V. Murli Zharan.
She’s also interacted with the Indian Haj pilgrims and Umrah pilgrims from India.
This comes after India and Saudi Arabia have signed the bilateral Haj four under which New Delhi has been allocated an enhanced quota of one lakh 75,025 pilgrims for the annual hatch pilgrimage in 2024.
of course just one of the several initiatives undertaken in order to promote ease of convenience for hajj pilgrims.
Earlier, of course, the Indian government has in fact facilitated several digital initiatives.
There was also earlier in 2023, an all woman hajj flight that had in fact also departed from Kozikore in India.
And India, of course, has also in fact enhanced ease of travel as far as reducing costs of travel is concerned.
Union minister Smriti Rani yesterday visited the city of Medina during a two day visit to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the minister also posted on x (twitter) that the significance of the visit to these sites interwind with the early islamic history, which also underscores the depth of the cultural and spiritual engagement.
She was also accompanied by the Minister of State for External affairs and Parliamentary Affairs v. Murli Dharan and other senior officials.
Well, the visit to Medina was also followed by a visit to the mountain of Uhud and the Cuba mosque.
The mosque is the first mosque of Islam, while Uhud mountain is the final resting place of several early Islamic martyrs.
And during a visit, the bilateral Hajj agreement 2024 was also signed between India and Saudi Arabia and as per the agreement.
A total quota of almost one lakh 75,000 pilgrims from India has been finalized for Hajj 2024, with one lakh 40,000 seats being reserved for pilgrims to proceed through Haj committee of India and 35,000 would be permitted to proceed through hajj group operators.
Well, the Union ministers also interacted with Indian volunteers who provided services to Indian hajj pilgrims, including during the Hajj 2023.
And if I just tell you, the minister also said that the government of India is deeply committed to assist in providing facilities and services to Indian Muslims who undertake the Haj pilgrimage.
Source: newsx
