- A row has erupted in J&K over Muslim students' admission to Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence
- Denying Muslim students admission to institutions will push them towards radicalism, warned Omar Abdullah
- "When you do not accept their children, then do not blame the entire community," Abdullah said
Denying meritorious Muslim students admission to educational institutions on religious grounds would push them towards radicalism, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah warned today amid an escalating row over admissions to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence.
The institute began its first batch this year.
"You are right about faith. Then, when you were building the medical college, you should have given it the status of a minority institute. Why didn't you give it? You should have given it, but you did not. Admission is based solely on the NEET entrance test; it is not determined by religion. Now, if you don't want Muslims to study in it, that is fine, sir. You declare it a minority institute, please do it," Chief Minister Abdullah, responding to the objection by the leader of the opposition in the J&K Assembly, told reporters in Nagrota.
A delegation of BJP MLAs led by Sunil Sharma, the opposition leader, met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday, and demanded cancellation of the admission list and the reservation of seats for only those students who have faith in Mata Vaishno Devi.
"They have got admission on merit, get them admitted somewhere else. But tomorrow, when you point fingers against Muslims, you say that they have become communal, they have become sectarian, they do not tolerate others, then remember this: When you do not accept their children, then tomorrow, when something happens, do not blame the entire community," Omar Abdullah said.
The institute was sanctioned 50 MBBS seats this year. However, the admissions given to 42 students from a particular community in the first batch for the 2025-26 academic year have sparked controversy, with right-wing Hindu groups questioning the process, and demanding "minority institution" status for the newly established institute.
"When the children got admission in the Faridabad University, then what did they ask? 'Why do they go to such places? Why do they go to these places where they get radicalised?' When children are willing to go to a medical college like Mata Vaishno Devi, they do not care about the name being Mata Vaishno Devi. They want to become doctors."Now you are denying them admission based on their religion. Tomorrow, if they go to some other institution where they get radicalised, will Sunil Sharma sahab then say he is at fault for this?" Abdullah said.
He said that these 42 Muslim students and probably one Sikh student has been admitted to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence on merit.
"Don't treat Muslim children like this, because you blame the entire community for what happens next. Don't do it. If you want Muslim children not to study in this medical college, please change its status, grant it minority status, and our children will get admission elsewhere: to Bangladesh, Turkey, or anywhere else," the Chief Minister added.
The Chief Minister added that when the bill to establish the institute was passed in the J&K Assembly, it was never intended to make the medical college a minority institution, but to make it an institution of excellence based on merit.
