A fresh controversy has erupted in Jammu after outfits linked to the Sangh Parivar launched protests demanding that the Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Institute of Medical Excellence scrap its newly released admission list.
Their objection: nearly 90% of the selected students are Muslims from Kashmir, a number they argue is disproportionate for a medical college built from pilgrim donations.
The protest is being spearheaded by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, with BJP Udhampur MLA R S Pathania endorsing the agitation.
Protesters are claiming that a shrine-funded institution should not have a student intake dominated by members of another religious community, and that the management must ensure Hindu-majority admissions in future batches.
They have burned effigies of the Shrine Board’s Chief Executive Officer and staged demonstrations outside the Katra institute.
Why the Protesters Are Angry
The trigger was the admission list cleared by the J&K Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (JKBOPEE)—50 candidates in total, 42 from Kashmir and 8 from Jammu. Of these, 36 candidates from Kashmir have already joined classes.
VHP’s J&K president Rajesh Gupta called the outcome a “conspiracy to Islamize the medical college”, demanding that next year’s admissions be halted and corrected.
Bajrang Dal leaders alleged bias in the BOPEE counselling process and argued that admissions should have been taken from the central NEET pool, which has candidates from across India.
BJP MLA R S Pathania said that since the institute runs entirely on donations from Vaishno Devi pilgrims and takes no government aid, seats should be reserved for Hindu students to “respect the faith of devotees”.
What the Rules Actually Say
Officials say the protests are ignoring core facts. The Vaishnodevi Medical Institute is not a minority institution, and therefore cannot legally reserve seats for any community. Admissions must strictly follow:
- NEET merit list
- National Medical Council (NMC) guidelines
- 85% seats for J&K domiciles and 15% for all-India candidates (for UT colleges)
As a private medical college in J&K, its domicile seats fall under JKBOPEE, which must allocate purely on merit.
Why So Many Kashmiri Muslim Students Made It
Officials clarify that the intake pattern is not a sudden spike—it reflects a continuing trend of higher NEET performance among students from Kashmir.
This year, over 70% of all shortlisted candidates across J&K’s 13 medical colleges were from the Muslim-majority Kashmir region.
In government colleges in Kashmir alone, 87 students from Jammu also took admissions, though largely through reserved categories.
The underlying reason is merit distribution: students with the highest NEET scores are disproportionately from Kashmir, which results in more Kashmir-based candidates qualifying for MBBS seats across the UT, including in Jammu-based colleges.
Interestingly, the reverse holds in engineering admissions, where Jammu students constitute the majority, reflecting the academic preferences and strengths in each region.
Why the College Could Not Choose from the All-India NEET Pool
The Shrine Board had earlier requested permission from the Centre and NMC to admit students directly from the all-India NEET list. But the NMC denied this because only:
- government medical colleges
- institutions created by an Act of Parliament (AIIMS, PGI)
- or Deemed Universities
can take students from the national pool.
The Missed Step: “Minority Status”
The National Conference pointed out a key administrative lapse: the Shrine Board did not apply for minority institution status while establishing the college.
Had it received minority status, it could have legally reserved a chunk of seats for Hindu students.
Without that status, JKBOPEE had no option but to select strictly by NEET merit, resulting in the current intake dominated by high-scoring Kashmiri Muslim candidates.
Why One Community Dominates the Intake: The Core Explanation
Because the selection process was based solely on NEET merit, and a larger share of high-ranking NEET candidates in J&K this year belonged to the Muslim-majority Kashmir region, the college’s admissions naturally reflected this distribution.
This is consistent with the academic trend of recent years.
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