Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has defended the admission of Muslim students to Mata Vaishno Devi Medical College and said merit, not religion, must be followed by the college. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has issued strong objections to the move.
Responding to questions from mediapersons about the demand for admission to only Hindu candidates at the institute, the Jammu and Kashmir CM said: “I don’t understand why there is a controversy...when the Bill for setting up of the Mata Vaishno Devi University was passed by the Assembly there was no mention that students of particular religion will be kept out of its purview. At that time, it was said the admission would be done on the basis of merit."
What is the controversy?
A major political storm has erupted in Jammu and Kashmir after right-wing Hindu organisations demanded the cancellation of admissions granted to 42 meritorious Muslim students in the MBBS programme at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) in Katra.
The primary argument put forward is that the institute, established and largely funded through donations from Hindu devotees to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB), should reserve seats exclusively or preferentially for Hindu students.
How did the controversy escalate?
The controversy escalated when the BJP openly endorsed the demand and its leaders, including the Leader of Opposition in the J&K Assembly, Sunil Sharma, submitted a formal memorandum to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha—who also serves as Chairman of the SMVDSB—urging revocation of the admissions.
Several Hindu outfits are protesting in Jammu over the admission to Muslim candidates on maximum seats. The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti, an amalgamation of 60 groups backed by Hindu outfits, is planning to launch an agitation across Jammu region.
How valley-based parties reacted
PDP Leader Iltija Mufti called it “anti-Muslim apartheid”. In a strongly worded post on 'X', she wrote:“In ‘Naya (new) Kashmir’, discrimination against Muslims now extends even to education. The bitter irony is that this anti-Muslim apartheid is being legitimised in India’s only Muslim-majority state under its only Muslim Chief Minister. Shameful.”
J&K People’s Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone issued a scathing statement, terming the BJP’s stance an attempt to communalise the noble field of medicine itself. He said, “This new controversy over students admitted to the medical college of Vaishno Devi University is stretching things too far. The BJP is now experimenting with communalising medical sciences.Let me remind everyone. There is an All-India entrance test called NEET.The brightest young minds in the country appear for it. Those who clear it with top ranks work tirelessly to become doctors who treat patients, perform life-saving surgeries, and push the boundaries of human knowledge through research. From open-heart surgery to robotic procedures, from restoring eyesight to inventing MRI and CT scans—medical science has progressed because brilliant minds, regardless of faith, dedicated their lives to defeating disease."
Hindu outfits stage multiple demonstrations
Several Hindu outfits are protesting in Jammu over the admission to Muslim candidates on maximum seats. The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti, an amalgamation of 60 groups backed by Hindu outfits, is planning to launch an agitation across Jammu region. The BJP has formally protested the admission list at the Vaishno Devi medical institute after 42 Muslim students made it to the first MBBS batch of 50, demanding a fresh process and rule review.
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