Jammu ~ A major political controversy has broken out in Jammu and Kashmir after BJP legislators demanded cancellation of the first MBBS admission list of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME), claiming that a majority of admitted students belong to one community and insisting that seats be reserved only for those“who have faith in Mata Vaishno Devi”.

A BJP delegation led by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Sunil Sharma met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and demanded that the sanctioned 50 seats-42 of which went to Kashmiri Muslim students-be allocated on religious grounds, while also seeking“minority institution” status for the new medical college.

Officials, however, clarified that SMVDIME is a publicly-funded institution established under a J&K Assembly statute, has no minority status, and therefore admissions were based purely on NEET merit, leaving no room for religion-based reservations.

National Conference chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq strongly hit out at the BJP, saying the demand is“misguided and dangerous”. In a post on X, he said:

“When you communalise institutions, you divide society at its core.
Tomorrow, will a patient be treated according to faith?
You are planting a time bomb no one will ever be able to fix.”

“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.

He asserted that shrine donations“cannot be converted into tools of discrimination”, warning that such politics would“destroy the nation tomorrow”.

“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.

People's Conference president Sajad Lone, a former BJP ally, also criticised the campaign, calling it a“perilous attempt to communalise the medical sciences”. He said:

MENAFN23112025000215011059ID1110384981