Hajj: Saudi Arabia hires company linked to India's Modi to process applications

The corporate tasked with amassing and facilitating functions from potential Hajj pilgrims dwelling in western nations has at the very least one investor with shut ties to India’s authorities, Center East Eye can reveal.

Final week, Saudi authorities introduced that would-be Hajj pilgrims from Australia, Europe and the US would want to use for visas by way of the federal government portal Motawif, a transfer supposed to crack down on what it referred to as “pretend” journey companies.

Following the brand new course of, these chosen would win their place by means of an “automated lottery” system, after which they might e book and buy their transport and lodging immediately by means of the Saudi authorities portal.

Saudi authorities have issued few statements about why the choice was being applied so near this 12 months’s Hajj, however an MEE investigation can reveal that a person concerned in serving to facilitate thousands and thousands of {dollars}’ price of investments into Traveazy, the Dubai-based firm that has been solely contracted to course of the western functions by means of Motawif, has ties to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP).

Prashant Prakash, vice-president and accomplice at enterprise capital agency Accel India, has served on India’s Nationwide Startup Advisory Council since 2020, and in 2021 turned a coverage and technique adviser to Basavaraj Bommai, the chief minister of the BJP-run authorities in Karnataka and a key Modi ally.

In keeping with Accel, it was Prakash who led the enterprise capital agency into partnering with two different operations once they collectively invested $7m in Traveazy in 2016, because the Indian-owned firm started to construct its Holidayme subsidiary, and, later in 2018, Umrahme, an organization run by Mohammed MS bin Mahfouz.

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In 2018, Accel was a part of a consortium of 5 companions who invested an additional $16m into Traveazy, which was co-founded by Indian nationals Geet Bhalla and Digvijay Pratap.

MEE reached out to Bhalla, the CEO of Traveazy, for remark, however didn’t obtain a response by time of publication.

In keeping with Forbes, Umrahme is now “considered one of solely three corporations authorised by the Ministry of Hajj & Umrah to promote Umrah merchandise to international journey brokers. By 2020, it was ranked fifth in Forbes’ checklist of fifty of the most funded start-ups within the Center East”.

‘Outrageous and harmful’

A number of Indian activists stated the revelations have been regarding. Nabiya Khan, based mostly within the capital, New Delhi, informed MEE that Saudi Arabia’s choice to outsource the appliance course of to an organization with investor hyperlinks to the BJP was “outrageous” and “harmful”.

Khan stated that the BJP-led Karnataka authorities was on the centre of a number of anti-Muslim insurance policies, together with restrictions on the hijab and adhan.

“Muslims in Karnataka have been below steady assault below the BJP. Now we have additionally seen Karnataka’s chief minister, Basavaraj Bommai, encouraging right-wing interference of inter-faith marriages and harassment of inter-faith {couples}, the place Muslim males are a web site of direct violence,” she stated.

“The private information of these Muslims who utilized by means of the portal might simply find yourself within the unsuitable arms,” Khan stated.

“It’s unlucky that Muslim nations are entrusting such delicate data and cash to individuals whose cash will in the end abet persecution of Muslims in India,” added Khan.

“On the one hand, KSA [Saudi Arabia] condemns controversial remarks in regards to the Prophet Muhammad by BJP leaders, and then again they’re extending enterprise with such organisations. Are they really clueless or simply do not care about Muslims when the BJP’s anti-Muslim agenda is so clear for all to see?” 

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Syed Abdahu Kashaf, a social and civil rights activist from Hyderabad, informed MEE that the allegations meant Saudi Arabia had successfully “invited individuals who haven’t any proper to be concerned in a really sacred area for Muslims”.

Neither Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah nor the Saudi consulate in New York Metropolis replied to requests for remark.

The southern Indian state of Karnataka is taken into account the start-up capital of India, and Prakash is an business stalwart.

He co-founded Accel’s India department in 2008 and is credited for having helped facilitate the start-up ecosystem involving the federal government and personal sector in Karnataka. 

In 2020, he praised Modi’s use of expertise in India’s Covid-19 response, and hailed the Indian chief’s “progressive insurance policies and steadfast dedication” to India’s expertise startups.

India’s Covid-19 response has been thought of a failure by many consultants, with the WHO estimating round 4.7 million Indians might have died through the pandemic to this point. The Indian authorities has rejected the WHO’s toll.

In December 2021, Prakash was considered one of a number of enterprise capitalists invited to a round-table dialogue of start-ups within the nation, held at Modi’s residence. Modi was dubbed the “startup prime minister” and lauded by the tech entrepreneurs, whereas his official YouTube channel posted a clip of Prakash hailing Modi for his work on agricultural startups.

“It was an amazing alternative to work together with the prime minister. I offered the thought of this being the second to encourage agri-startups. He [Modi] clearly noticed the identical imaginative and prescient,” Prakash stated.

MEE reached out to Prakash for remark however didn’t obtain a response by time of publication.

Digital authoritarianism

Suchitra Vijayan, government director of The Polis Venture in New York Metropolis, informed MEE the tech business was an instance of how anti-Muslim hatred might spill over borders.

Accel is a very long time investor in Israeli start-ups, reportedly investing greater than $350m into the nation between 2002-2016. 

“One of many dimensions of authoritarianism is surveillance capitalism and the way that feeds into the methods during which each individual is totally detailed and documented,” Vijayan stated.

“I believe digital authoritarianism is carefully linked to surveillance capitalism. The concept is to continuously survey the inhabitants and doc their actions and have management over the whole lot they do.

“The Hindutva ideology and the rabid hatred that they’ve for Muslims and others is a world phenomenon. Bigotry is massive enterprise and there are individuals who earn money from this bigotry and violence,” she added.

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Collaboration between India and the UAE has accelerated in recent times attributable to deepening geostrategic ties in addition to financial and industrial relations.

In January, India and the UAE signed a memorandum of understanding to launch the “India-UAE Begin-Up Hall”, with the acknowledged intention of constructing a start-up ecosystem between the 2 nations.

Two months later, Accel introduced it will be investing $650m within the Indian start-up scene.

On Tuesday, the US introduced that it’ll maintain a four-nation summit with India, Israel and the UAE throughout President Joe Biden’s go to to the area subsequent month.

A White Home official described the assembly as a “distinctive engagement” and stated the leaders will focus on safety and “areas of cooperation throughout hemispheres the place UAE and Israel function necessary innovation hubs.”

Since Saudi Arabia introduced its adjustments to the Hajj utility course of, there have been a number of mishaps for western pilgrims.

On Friday, candidates stated they have been being bombarded with spam after registering on the location, prompting considerations about privateness and information theft – particularly for the reason that firm doesn’t specify its information safety insurance policies on its web site.

On Monday, Motawif’s web site skilled a number of technical difficulties receiving functions, finally crashing as thousands and thousands descended upon the location.