Seeking reservation, Hindu groups hold rally in Jammu amid MBBS admission row
The agitation follows selection of 42 Muslim, one Sikh and seven Hindu candidates for the 50 sanctioned MBBS seats for the 2025-26 academic session all chosen through the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test
Several Hindu organisations, led by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti, on Friday took out a protest rally on Tawi Bridge in the temple city and burnt an effigy of chief minister Omar Abdullah while accusing him for issuing “provocative remarks” on the row over MBBS admissions at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence.
The protesters warned the Omar-led government of intensifying their agitation if the list of the first batch of students to MBBS course was not revoked. They want reservation for Hindu candidates at the medical college.
Samiti’s convener Colonel Sukhvir Singh Mankotia (retd), in his address, said the issue was not a Hindu-Muslim confrontation. “This is a fight for our faith, but some people are trying to give it a communal colour. The society must remain alert to such sinister designs,” said Mankotia.
He further said that the shrine board runs entirely on donations by millions of Hindus. “Therefore, the shrine board must utilise this fund only for those who have faith in Mata Vaishno Devi. This money should be spent on institutions and centres associated with Sanatan Dharma,” he added.
The ₹600 crore medical college has been made and is being run on the donations of the devotees. Unless the shrine board reverses its decision and ensures proper reservation to Hindu candidates, Samiti’s agitation will continue, he said.
Purushottam Dadhichi, core committee member of the Samiti and president of J&K Shri Sanatan Dharma Sabha, said, “The CM should stop communalising the issue by making provocative statements.”
The agitation followed the selection of 42 Muslim, one Sikh and seven Hindu candidates for the 50 sanctioned MBBS seats for the 2025-26 academic session, all chosen through the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
Admissions on merit through NEET: Deputy CM
Deputy chief minister Surender Chaudhary said admissions were made purely on merit through NEET and should not be viewed from a religious perspective. “My point is that children’s education should not be judged on the scale of religion. Look at their merit. The students who have taken admission are meritorious candidates. They qualified through an examination and were selected on the basis of merit through NEET,” Chaudhary told reporters.
Choudhary was replying to questions on sidelines of a function on the 120th birth anniversary of Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah here.
BJP’s failure, says Congress
The J&K Congress sought answers from the NDA government at the Centre over its “failure and silence to allow the situation to further worsen” in Jammu towards religious polarisation.
“The Union government should grant necessary permissions to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence as there are already two such institutes — Acharya Shri Chander Ji Medical College and Hospital and Mahant Bachittar Singh Engineering College — functioning in Jammu, taking care of the religious sentiments and rights of youth,” said Congress working president Raman Bhalla.
Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said, “The lieutenant governor’s administration and the UT government should find out a reasonable solution in order to check the vested interests from taking any advantage of the situation that can lead to communal unrest.”
