A political uproar has engulfed Jammu and Kashmir following the admission process at the newly formed Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence in Katra, where 42 out of the 50 MBBS seats in the first batch have been awarded to Muslim candidates. The Bharatiya Janata Party, along with several Hindu organisations, has demanded the cancellation of the admission list, arguing that a college named after a Hindu shrine should not admit students from non-Hindu faiths.
Omar Abdullah, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has countered these demands by insisting that the admissions were strictly on merit, based on performance in the national medical entrance exam and domicile criteria — not religion. He challenged the BJP to formally seek minority-institution status for SMVDIME if the aim was to exclude non-Hindu students, saying that unless such a status were granted, religion could not legitimately factor into admissions.
Officials have confirmed that SMVDIME has not been granted minority status, which under Indian law bars admission preferences or exclusivity based on faith. They point out that 85 per cent of seats are set aside for domicile holders from Jammu and Kashmir, with the remaining 15 per cent open to candidates from other parts of the country — and that merit and domicile were the guiding criteria for the first list.
The opposition, led by Sunil Sharma, Leader of Opposition in the J&K Assembly, called the outcome “unacceptable” and asserted that faith should be considered alongside merit, especially given the institution’s ties to the shrine. Sharma and allied religious organisations submitted a formal memorandum to Manoj Sinha in his capacity as Chairman of the shrine board, urging revocation of the list and reservation of seats exclusively for devotees of the shrine.
Protest threats have already emerged from fringe groups affiliated with the Hindu-right organisations. Their stated position is that the donations collected at the shrine by Hindu devotees fund the medical college, and they argue the institution should reflect the religious identity of its benefactors.
Abdullah has cautioned against such demands, warning that barring Muslim students on faith-based grounds could drive them to pursue education abroad — describing such exclusion as a path potentially conducive to alienation and radicalisation. He emphasised that when the law establishing SMVDIME was passed, there was no clause reserving admission for followers of a particular religion; the college was envisaged as a secular, merit-based institution.
Supporters of the college’s admission process point out that across medical institutions in the Union Territory, it is not unusual for Muslim students to feature prominently among top applicants. They argue that denying qualified students access on the basis of religion undermines constitutional principles and could set a dangerous precedent.
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