Hindutva groups, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, protested against the admission of Muslim students to the Katra-based Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Institute of Medical Excellence, which is funded by donations to the Vaishno Devi shrine, and demanded that the admission list for the first batch be scrapped.
The protests gathered momentum in the Jammu region as the organisations objected to the fact that a large majority of selected students were Muslims from Kashmir, and they argued that an institute established through contributions offered at a Hindu shrine should not witness such demographic dominance, The Wire reported.
The agitation intensified after the J&K Board of Professional Entrance Examinations finalised a list of 50 candidates for the newly established medical institute, and the distribution of selected students showed that 42 were from Kashmir while only eight were from Jammu.
The admission process has so far resulted in 36 students from Kashmir and three from Jammu completing their formalities, and this pattern became the focal point of the protests, with activists asserting that the seats ought to be reserved for Hindu candidates.
Demonstrations were organised outside the institute in Katra, and effigies of the Chief Executive Officer of the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board were burnt as the groups escalated their campaign, and they further pressed for halting the admission process for the next academic session. The organisations characterised the situation as an attempt to reshape the identity of the institute, and they insisted that the management intervene to alter the admission pattern.
Officials familiar with the process maintained anonymously that the admissions were conducted strictly in accordance with National Medical Council guidelines, and they explained that all admissions across the 13 medical colleges in Jammu and Kashmir are carried out based on NEET rankings.
The officials further noted that 85% of seats are reserved for Union Territory domiciles, while the remaining 15% remain open to candidates from the rest of the country, and they stressed that the Vaishnodevi institute followed the same regulatory framework as every other medical college in the region.