The protesters demanded that the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board—J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha is the chairman—cancel the maiden admission list of students to the SMVDIME. (File photo)
Protesters under the banner of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangarsh Samiti Saturday demonstrated against J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and burned his effigies outside Lok Bhawan over admission of Muslim students from Kashmir in the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) near Katra.
The protesters demanded that the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board—Sinha is the chairman—cancel the maiden admission list of students to the SMVDIME.
Members of the BJP, RSS, J&K Sanatan Dharam Sabha, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena took part in the protest. J&K Sanatan Dharam Sabha president Parshotam Dadeechi, BJP Mahila Morcha’s J&K chief Neha Mahajan and the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Arun Gupta also took part.
Colonel (retd) Sukhvir Mankotia, convener of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangarsh Samiti, a conglomerate of nearly 60 pro BJP-RSS and other Hindu organisations spearheading the agitation, said the protests will continue until the resolution of their demand, which include reservation of seats in SMVDIME for only Hindu students and to shift Muslim students from Kashmir to some other colleges.
“We are not against students of any particular religion, but only want the MBBS seats in SMVDIME reserved for Hindu students as the medical college has been set up on the basis of donations made by pilgrims visiting the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine,’’ he said.
Trouble erupted after the J&K Board of Professional Entrance Examinations released a list of 50 candidates for the first batch of the Vaishno Devi institute in November. Of the total candidates, 44 are Muslims from Kashmir and six Hindus from Jammu. The admissions were as per rules and the NEET merit list, with the institute not enjoying minority status. However, of those six Hindu candidates, only three turned up for admission.
Following this, around 60 organisations in Jammu came together under the banner of Sanatan Dharma Sabha.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, however, had called the protests baseless, saying that when the J&K Assembly passed the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University Act and gave it the land for campus, it was mentioned that admissions would be made on the basis of merit alone. “Where was it written that boys and girls from a particular religion will be kept out? It was said that admissions will be based on merit and not religion… If you want to admit without merit, then take permission from the Supreme Court.”
CM Abdullah said that “secularism is still there in our Constitution” and that if the BJP wants to end it, “it should first remove that word”.