Merit sole basis, not religion, says Omar on Vaishno Devi college admission row

Amid the demand for scrapping the allotment of 42 of 50 MBBS seats to Muslim candidates at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said only merit should be the criteria for admission to any institution, not religion.

Responding to questions from mediapersons about the demand for admission to only Hindu candidates at the institute, Omar 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."

Move SC if not happy

If you want admission on the basis of religion, you can take permission from the Supreme Court. Without merit, you cannot get admission. -- Omar Abdullah, J&K CM

BJP leaders, led by Leader of Opposition (LoP) Sunil Shama, recently met Lt Governor Manoj Sinha asking him to revoke the admission list.

"...if you want admission on the basis of religion...you can take permission from the Supreme Court. Without merit, you cannot get admission, and here you are asking to do admission on the basis of religion," the Chief Minister said.

While the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University was established at Katra in 1999, the first batch of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence, which is affiliated to the university, was recently started.

Omar further questioned that if religion is seen above merit, “will we give benefits to people under social welfare schemes by considering their religion? Will the ration shops also see religion of the beneficiaries?" There is a word ‘secular’ in our Constitution and if they (BJP) did not want to keep the country secular, they should first remove the word, he added.

Attacking the LoP, Omar said the leader should see the Act of the Vaishno Devi University which stated that the admission would be given only on merit.

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.