'Keep in mind your role when you allege Muslims have become communal': Omar to BJP leader amid admission row

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday hit out at BJP leader Sunil Sharma to push for declaring Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) a minority institute to keep away non-Hindu students and warned that denying meritorious Muslim students admission to educational institutions on religious grounds would push them towards radicalism.

He further said that such leaders should remember their opposition to the admission of Muslim students in the medical college whenever they try to raise a finger against the community and blame it for becoming communal, sectarian or not tolerating others, PTI reported.

“Faith is fine but when you were building the college, it should have been given the minority status at that time. The admissions happen on the basis of NEET and other tests and not on the basis of religion,” Abdullah told reporters.

What is the admission row?

The institute began its first batch this year and was sanctioned 50 MBBS seats. However, the admissions given to 42 students from a particular community in the first batch for the 2025-26 academic year have sparked controversy, with right-wing Hindu groups questioning the process, and demanding "minority institution" status for the newly established institute.

A delegation of BJP MLAs led by Sunil Sharma, the opposition leader, met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday, and demanded cancellation of the admission list and the reservation of seats for only those students who have faith in Mata Vaishno Devi.

Officials, however, said admissions were made on merit as the institute has not been granted minority status and, therefore, no reservation criteria based on religion could be applied.

'Admission on merit'

“Now if you want Muslims to not get admission in this institute, let it be the case. Declare it a minority institute and the Muslims and one Sikh student who have secured their admission on the basis of their merit should be given admission somewhere else. But keep in mind your role when you raise a finger against Muslims and allege that they have become communal, sectarian and do not tolerate others,” Abdullah said.

Referring to the 'white-collar' terror network headed by a group of doctors in Faridabad’s Al-Falah University, linked to the blast in Delhi on November 10 and an accidental explosion inside the Nowgam police station in Srinagar on November 14, he said questions were asked why the Kashmiri doctors went to the institute where they got radicalised.

“When the children are ready to get education at Mata Vaishno Devi college, having no issue with its name or funding to pursue their education and become doctors, you want to deny them their admission raking up the issue of religion,” he said, adding “tomorrow, if they go to any other institute where they will get radicalised, can Sunil Sharma take the responsibility?”

The chief minister advised the BJP leaders not to push Muslim students like this. “If you want that Muslim students not study there, please change the status of the institute and our children will get admission somewhere else like Bangladesh or Turkey,” he said.

Abdullah on Monday said, “When the Assembly passed the Bill for the establishment of Mata Vaishno Devi University, where was it written that students of a particular religion will be kept outside it? At that time, it was said that admissions will not be given on the basis of religion but only on the basis of merit.”