Shut down college, shift students elsewhere: CM slams protests over admissions at Jammu college

JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said that the students admitted to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence had got it purely on merit, and denounced those who protested against it. He also suggested shutting the institution and moving the students to other government medical colleges.

"Why are the people protesting again today? On what basis are they protesting? Those children worked hard to get their seats. No one did them any favour, neither me nor the university. They passed the exams and got their seats.

"If you do not want to have them there, then adjust them somewhere else," he said. Abdullah said no student would want to study at the university, considering the prevailing atmosphere, and that if he were their parent, he would be afraid of sending them there.

"By all means, the Union Ministry of Health should shift them to some other medical college of ours so that they can continue their education," the chief minister told reporters here.

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Inaugural MBBS batch of 50 students

Abdullah's remarks came in response to a series of protests by the BJP-supported Sangharsh Samiti, a recently formed conglomeration of various right-wing organisations. The outfit was formed shortly after the admission for the inaugural MBBS batch of 50 students was completed in November through the NEET . The batch includes 42 Muslim students, mostly from Kashmir, seven Hindu students from Jammu, and one Sikh.

"We do not want to send them to a place where so much politics is being done. Close that medical college. That medical college is not worth opening. Close it. And these children, adjust them in some other government medical college of ours," Abdullah said. On the future of sports after the J&K U-16 cricket team created history by winning the Vijay Merchant trophy, he said his party, the National Conference, takes every game as it is.

"You should ask questions to those who connect the game with politics. When we look at the team, we do not look at the religion of the players. They do not see anything other than religion. When there were more Muslims in the football team, they had an objection to the football team. When the number of Muslims in the cricket team decreased, they had no objection to the cricket team. "In everything, they bring religion. They bring religion into education. They bring religion into sports. They have crossed the limits by suggesting what to eat and drink. What is left now? Since they have no issue, they are now trying to separate Jammu," Abdullah said.

Earlier in a post on X, the NC leader congratulated the J&K U-16 cricket team on winning the Vijay Merchant Trophy for the first time. "A historic BCCI title and a dominant victory that reflects the rising cricketing talent of Jammu & Kashmir," he wrote.