Re: Taxpayers pay for the HAJ Pilgrimage ?

["Dr. Sanjeev Sabhlok" <sabhlok@mail.cine.net>]

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Padmanabha Rao K V <kvprao@igidr.ac.in> said:

>The support to Haaj piligrims reeks of communalism
> and that is antithetical to the objectives and philosophy of IPI.  I
> think, as a Party, IPI should clearly and briefly articulate its ideation
> of a secular society.

Correction!! IPI is not a party. An open discussion forum. But the 'ideal
constitution of a party' (on IPI's page) says:

"d) Religion is a purely personal matter never to be brought into the area
of poltical discourse, and no religion is supreme nor worth fighting about.
All religions are to be fully respected."

You might want to re-do this draft. I agree, giving sops to one group at the
expense of another group might not hold "water". The problem is when people
like me who have no religion nor caste, pay taxes for the benefit of not the
entire society, but of a special group. I did not think of it earlier, but
now I am concerned!! At least people like me ought to be able to get a free
trip to Disneyland or the Louvre once in a lifetime. Subsidisation of ALL
religious institutions ought to go, and indeed, these ought to be taxed
fully, like any corporation. At the moment, many religious institutions are
the depositories of black money. The state has NO business supporting any
religion in any way.




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