Anil Anand
a.anil.anand@gmail.com
The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) located in the foothills of the revered shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi (Katra) has been dragged into a controversy which was seemingly avoidable. The barely six-month old medical college has suddenly been sought to be made an instrument of communal polarization in the erstwhile state demoted and divided into two Union Territories (UTs)- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
The controversy has erupted at a time when J & K is struggling hard, in all respects, to come to terms with the fall-out of August 5, 2019 constitutional changes that by and large have not augured well either for Jammu and Kashmir, or the UT of Ladakh as reflected by the subsequent developments.
It is seldom that the controversy over selection of candidates, in this case done by a central agency on all India basis, stems from a communal dispute rather than merit or any other basis. Out of the 50 candidates selected on the basis of NEET examination, 42 are Muslims, one Sikh and seven Hindus. This has become basis for the fringe groups, mostly associated with the RSS-BJP combine, hitting the street. They questioned how an institute funded by offerings made at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine could have majority Muslim candidates. This is an affront to the country’s laid down system and norms.
There is no denying the fact that the communal divide runs deep into the demography of Jammu, and Kashmir and that it is dug deep in every election season or whenever the political leaders feel insecure. The situation on this front has got further entrenched during the last over a decade and it will not be wrong to say the SMVDIME controversy is its new manifestation with dangerous consequences.
The quick turn of events after Hindutava-centric outfits’ protests and an obliging Centre acting “swiftly” to press the National Medical Commission (NMC) into service who in turn without wasting any time withdrew its Letter of Permission (LoP) granted to SMVDIME to run MBBS course in August-September last year for the 2025-26 session. Presumably, it (giving LoP) must have been done finding everything in order.
What went wrong within six months? Were the flaws ignored during earlier inspection, if any, and under whose pressure? Both the Union Health Ministry and the NAM should come clear on facts in the interest of their own credibility.
Normal practice in such cases is that the erring medical college is given a hearing and time to remove deficiencies before taking any drastic action. Was SMVDIME given such an opportunity?
It seems it was not done. It is another matter that the NMC has protected the interests of the selected candidates by directing the J &K UT government to adjust them in other medical colleges. That is also an indication about the uncertain future of the Katra medical college which in such a case will be an opportunity lost for Jammu region.
Whom to blame for this “fiasco” or “anti-Hindutava” (selection of Muslim candidates) move? Under the existing set up this question assumes utmost significance as the Narendra Modi dispensation, as seen during the last decade, is a past-master in shifting blame on the opposition parties or their ruled state governments, or the BJP’s adversaries for the acts of commission and omission in areas which directly come under their own domain.
If the selection process was wrong, as a case is being made out by the protestors wearing a religious cloak, who is to be blamed for that. In this context the overnight action by the NMC is self-explanatory.
The chairman of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board is Lt Governor Mr Manoj Sinha, an appointee of the BJP-led NDA government and a former BJP leader, under whose watch the Board performs various activities including setting up a multi-specialty hospital to which the new medical college is attached. He must have played a pivotal role in getting quick clearances from the Union Health Ministry under which the NMC functions. It is appreciable and no problems at all.
Did the Board visualize such a situation where in a Muslim majority UT this could have happened at any given point in time? Ostensibly, it was not done. Was it an oversight or a loophole kept to be stitched some other day as per the political expediency?
Was the Union Health Minister Mr J P Nadda, who is also the BJP’s national president, unaware about the developments taking place related to the setting up of the SMVDIM? The NMC, could not have swung into quick action, without his intervention, to bail out the BJP set-up in J & K and protect its overall Hindutava plank. Given the fact that despite having swept through the entire Hindu-dominated belt of Jammu region bagging 29 out of 30 seats in this segment during last year’s assembly elections, and people having voted for BJP more than half-a-dozen times, from Panchayat to Lok Sabha, since 2014, the region is lying in dire-straits.
Did the SMVDIM come as a handy tool to divert attention from the burning issues and unkept promises through igniting religious sentiments? Frankly speaking, this conundrum is not easy to explain.
The closure of the SMVDIM, the BJP circles call it a mere suspension, has caused two sets of reaction- Between Jammu and Kashmir (owing to politics based on different demographic characters) and more importantly within the Jammu society. While the BJP-brigade and their supporters were jubilant over the closure of the medical college and having stopped the entry of Muslim candidates, fortunately, it has been viewed as a negative move running against the interests of Jammu region by a substantial section of the society. A vital question, what has Jammu gained with the closure of the medical college, is being asked.
A vital question remains as to why the Jammu and Kashmir Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Act, 1988 was not suitably amended before mooting proposal for a medical college. As the experts suggest, it needed amendment in sections related to governing administration, oversight, and use of land and institutions developed by the Shrine Board, thereby meaning that the objectives of the shrine fund must be explicitly defined for this institute.
Apart from the communal situation which has been sought to be created with counter reactions from Kashmir Valley, a more worrying fall-out of this episode is that the meritocracy has come under question. And questioning the merit of the students, irrespective of their faith, should disturb all right-thinking people rising about politics and ignoring faultlines in the society. If the merit is questionable in this case, then the entire NEET process is under the cloud.
One way out of the crisis, as suggested by some experts and rightwing ideologues is granting minority-institution status to SMVDIM, which will permit seats to be reserved for the Hindu community. If the Centre (read BJP) agrees to do that, how will it justify its stand vis-à-vis Aligarh Muslim University and Delhi’s St Stephen’s College, which have minority Muslim and Christian characters and the ruling dispensations have sought to change that.
The Jammu and Kashmir Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Act, 1988 requires amendments, particularly in sections governing administration, oversight, and use of land and institutions developed by the Shrine Board. What intrigues the most is that the UT administration glossed over the fact that Jammu already has two educational institutions having been granted the minority status. The Acharya Shri Chander College of Medical Sciences (ASCOMS), run by the Shri Chander Chinar Bada Akhara Udasin Society, has Hindu Minority status and reserves 25 per cent of its seats for Hindu students. The Mahant Bachittar Singh College for Engineering and Technology reserves 50 per cent of its seats for Sikh students as a Sikh Minority institution. Importantly, both continue to follow standard NEET/BOPEE admission procedures.
So, finally, the political compulsions seemed to have overrun everything else, thereby endangering the UT with another bout of communal polarisation and attached frenzy. Immediate remedial measures must be taken to prevent such a situation.
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