Over 60 Hindu outfits unite over Vaishno Devi MBBS admissions

The controversy over the allocation of 42 out of 50 seats to Muslim students at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB)-run medical college has escalated sharply, with more than 60 organisations backed by the Sangh Parivar forming an amalgamation and planning a large-scale agitation to scrap the admissions.

At present, admission to the MBBS programme at the college is based on merit secured in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).

The new body, ‘Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti’, under the umbrella of the Shri Sanatan Dharam Sabha, has been formed on the lines of the ‘Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti’, which led the agitation in 2008 against the revocation of forest land transfer to the Amarnath cave shrine in Kashmir. Jammu region had come to a standstill for weeks as business, trade and religious bodies enforced an indefinite bandh.

The issue turned into a major controversy after the newly established Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence at Kakryal in Katra allotted 42 seats to Muslim candidates during admissions for its first batch recently. Hindu outfits across the Jammu region launched protests demanding 100 per cent reservation for Hindu students, stating that the college had been established with offerings from the community.

A meeting of around 60 social, business and religious organisations from Jammu was held at Geeta Bhawan under the chairmanship of Sanatan Dharam Sabha president, Purushottam Dadhichi. In the meeting, it was decided to constitute the new body, with retired Colonel Sukhbir Singh Mankotia appointed as its convenor.

Dadhichi said that a meeting of the city’s organisations had been convened as “widespread opposition had emerged in society after students from a single particular community were selected for 42 out of the 50 MBBS seats in the Vaishno Devi Medical College”.

He added, “In the meeting, all the group leaders shared the opinion that a struggle was necessary for a lasting solution to this issue and therefore, by consensus, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti was formed.”

The Lt Governor of J&K, Manoj Sinha, being the chairman of the Shrine Board, has been approached by religious organisations and a delegation of the BJP, demanding that the admission process be scrapped and the seats reserved exclusively for Hindu candidates.

Speaking to The Tribune, Samiti president Sukhbir Singh Mankotia said that the medical college was “built with the offerings of the members of Hindu community not only from India but from across the world”. He asserted, “The college should be run only as per the principles of Hindu religion and no member of other communities should be given admission at the college.”

Mankotia further said that, as it was the fault of the college administration and the Shrine Board to grant admission to Muslim students, “they should be adjusted in other government colleges of J&K, as our religion doesn’t promote hatred toward others”.

He warned that if no decision was taken soon, an agitation would be launched across the region.