Misguided, dangerous: NC leader on BJP's demand on medical college admissions

Jammu: National Conference (NC) leader Tanvir Sadiq on Sunday criticised the BJP's call to revoke the admission list at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME), saying the demand to reserve seats for students who have faith in the deity is "misguided and dangerous".

Disgruntled BJP leader Jahanzaib Sirwal also criticised the demand to cancel seats allotted to Muslim students, calling it "irresponsible and unconstitutional", and noting that the institute is a public university established under a statute of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

The SMVDIME has been sanctioned 50 MBBS seats this year and the admission of 42 students from a particular community in the maiden batch for the 2025-26 academic year has sparked a row, with right-wing Hindu groups questioning the process and demanding the grant of "minority institution" status to the newly-established institute.

Officials, however, have said that the admissions were made on merit as the institute has not been granted minority status and, therefore, no reservation criteria based on religion could be applied.

A delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs, led by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Sunil Sharma, met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha here late on Saturday and demanded that the admission list be cancelled and seats in the institute reserved for only those students who have faith in Mata Vaishno Devi.

"When you communalise institutions, you are not just doing politics, you are dividing society at its core. If hospitals, schools, universities and medical colleges start deciding intake on the basis of religion, what kind of country will we become? Tomorrow, will a patient be treated according to the faith? Will merit be pushed aside to satisfy majoritarian demands? This is a recipe for disaster," Sadiq said in a post on X.

The chief spokesperson of the ruling NC in Jammu and Kashmir said the BJP's stance on the SMVDIME admissions, which were effected purely on the basis of merit, is not "just misguided, it is dangerous".

"A shrine-funded institution does not become a religion-based institution. Donations made in devotion cannot be converted into tools of discrimination. For your petty political gains, BJP, please do not turn our institutions into battlegrounds of faith. You are planting a time bomb that, once it goes off, will create a divide no one will ever be able to fix," the MLA from Zadibal added.

Asserting that communalising health and education is fundamentally wrong, he said, "It harms society today and destroys the nation tomorrow. This toxic politics must stop before irreparable damage is done."

Sirwal too expressed pain and shock at the "utterly irresponsible and unconstitutional statements" made by certain BJP leaders, demanding the cancellation of seats allotted to Muslim students on the bizarre ground that it is a "Hindu institution".

"Let me remind my own party colleagues that SMVDIME is a fully public-funded university established by an Act of the Jammu and Kashmir legislature and governed by the laws of India. It is not a private temple trust or a religious endowment. No institution receiving public money can discriminate on the basis of religion," Sirwal said in a statement, referring to Articles 14, 15 and 29(2) of the Constitution.

He said the stance taken by these BJP leaders is a "direct assault on the Constitution", the rule of law and the very Idea of India that the party claims to uphold.

"It is ironic and shameful that an institution of higher learning, meant to nurture talent and promote unity, is being dragged into the dirty swamp of communal polarisation for petty political gains. Using education as a tool for division is the lowest form of politics imaginable," the BJP leader added.

Sirwal urged his party leadership to immediately restrain such elements within the organisation who are indulging in this "dangerous and divisive rhetoric".

"The people of Jammu and Kashmir have suffered enough because of polarisation. The BJP must rise above vote-bank politics and focus on progressive, inclusive and development-oriented governance," he added.

Sirwal said the country is governed by the Constitution and not by the "whims of individuals or the temptations of electoral expediency".

"Any attempt to communalise educational institutions will only push India towards destruction and cause irreparable damage to our social fabric.

"The BJP belongs to the legacy of (former prime minister) Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his vision of 'Insaniyat, Jamhooriyat aur Kashmiriyat'. It is time we return to that path instead of walking on the path of hatred," he said.