Ninety percent of the students selected for admission to Vaishnodevi Medical College are Muslim. Sangh outfits want the admission process for this college to be scrapped.

By Ayush Sachan

Outfits associated with the Sangh Parivar have launched protests in the Jammu region demanding that the Katra-based Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Institute of Medical Excellence scrap the admission list for its first batch of students, as 90% of them are Muslims belonging to Kashmir.

BJP Udhampur MLA R S Pathania has backed the protests led by the VHP and Bajrang Dal. Their primary argument is that an institute established with donations from the Vaishno Devi shrine should not be dominated by Muslim members and should reserve seats for Hindus.

The National Conference’s Jammu province president, Rattan Lal Gupta, held the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, which manages the college, responsible for the issue. Gupta emphasized that while applying to the National Medical Commission (NMC) for establishing a medical college, the board should have also requested minority status.

Since the Shrine Board did not seek such a status, the JKBOPEE had no option but to select students based on their merit in the NEET exam, Gupta explained. Additionally, Gupta noted that “most of the students with higher merit happened to be from the majority community (Muslims) in Kashmir.”