Valley parties slam BJP for ‘communalising’ institutions

A day after a delegation of the BJP led by Leader of Opposition (LoP) Sunil Sharma met Lt Governor Manoj Sinha over the issue of allocation of 42 seats to non-Hindus at the Vaishno Devi medical college, Kashmir-based political parties on Sunday criticised the demand for reservation of seats exclusively for Hindus at the institution.

National Conference (NC) MLA and chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq, in a post on X, stated: “When you communalise institutions, you aren’t just doing politics you are dividing society at its core. If hospitals, schools, universities and medical colleges start deciding intake on the basis of religion, what kind of country will we become? Tomorrow, will a patient be treated according to their faith? Will merit be pushed aside to satisfy majoritarian demands? This is a recipe for disaster”.

Criticising the saffron party, he said that the BJP’s stance on the medical college admissions, where selections were purely merit-based, is not just misguided, it is dangerous. “A shrine-funded institution does not become a religion-based institution. Donations made in devotion cannot be converted into tools of discrimination. For your petty political gains, BJP, please do not turn our institutions into battlegrounds of faith. You are planting a time bomb that, once it goes off, will create a divide no one will ever be able to fix,” Sadiq said.

Meanwhile, PDP leader Iltija Mufti in a statement said, “In Naya Kashmir discrimination towards Muslims now also extends to education. The irony being that this anti-Muslim apartheid is being legitimised & carried out in India’s only Muslim majority state with its only Muslim Chief Minister. Shameful”.

Meanwhile, Peoples Conference president and MLA Handwara Sajad Gani Lone on Sunday characterised the controversy as a perilous attempt to “communalise medical sciences”. “This is too much of a stretch. The BJP is now experimenting with the concept of communalising medical sciences,” he said.

Emphasising that medical admissions operate under a uniform national framework, he noted that “there is a proper admission test called NEET. And that is an All India test.”

Lone underscored that the young men and women who secure positions in medical colleges nationwide do so through merit alone. “The finest brains in the country sit that exam and those who get selected work hard to become a doctor. And then these doctors serve people, treat them, perform surgeries,” he said.

LoP Sunil Sharma, during his meeting with the L-G on Saturday evening along with other MLAs of the party, expressed strong reservation over the selection process of admissions at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence.

He conveyed to the L-G that the selection of a large number of non-Hindu students has caused distress among many devotees. Sharma emphasised that, according to public sentiment, the issue involves not only academic considerations but also cultural sensitivities and faith-related expectations associated with institutions linked to Mata Vaishno Devi.

Highlighting the significance of the Shrine Board and its institutions, the LoP said that these bodies are not merely educational establishments but also represent the region’s cultural and spiritual identity.