It's Raining Sops! Hallelujah!
It's Raining Sops! Every Specimen!
Always eager to offer sops to minorities, the Andhra Pradesh government of chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Monday decided to dole out subsidies, on the lines of the Haj scheme, for Christians who want to visit holy sites in Israel.
The sop to Christian pilgrims by the chief minister, himself a Christian, is seen as another move by the Congress government to woo minorities ahead of the general and assembly elections scheduled for early next year.
Christians comprise about 1.5% of AP's eight crore population.
Last year, the state government aggressively tried to woo Muslims in the state, who comprise about 8-9% of the population. An attempt to reserve 5% of jobs and seats in educational institutions in the state for Muslims was struck down by courts.
AP to give Christians subsidy to visit Israel-India-The Times of India
