'Ordered relocation of Reasi students,' says CM, slams right-wing outfits for celebrating institution shutdown

JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said he had directed an immediate relocation of students admitted to Mata Vaishno Devi Medical College to facilities in their hometowns. The decision was announced a day after, the National Medical Commission's Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) withdrew the letter of permission granted to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence in Jammu's Reasi for non-compliance with minimum standards.

MARB said all students admitted to the college during the counselling for the academic year 2025-26 shall be accommodated in other medical institutions in Jammu and Kashmir as supernumerary seats by the competent authority of the Union Territory administration.

The MARB order came against the backdrop of an agitation by the Sangharsh Samiti, a recently formed conglomerate of right-wing organisations backed by the BJP, demanding cancellation of admissions to the college and seeking reservation of seats exclusively for students professing faith in Mata Vaishno Devi.

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The outfit emerged soon after admissions for the inaugural MBBS batch of 50 students were completed through the NEET merit list. Of the 50, 42 students were Muslims, mostly from Kashmir, seven Hindu students from Jammu, and one Sikh, a composition that raised hackles among the right-wing groups. "I have directed the health minister (Sakina Itoo) to ensure that students affected by the withdrawal of permission to the Mata Vaishno Devi medical college are adjusted in government medical colleges near their homes," the chief minister told reporters after addressing a district review meeting in Samba.

Abdullah said the process should be expedited so that the students can continue their medical education and later serve the people of the region. The chief minister also denounced the celebration by the right-wing outfits of the permission withdrawal. "What is this happiness about? The people in the country fight over getting the medical colleges, and here, a struggle was waged to shut down a medical college to play with the future of J&K children.

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"If destroying children's futures gives you happiness, then burst firecrackers … This time, out of 50 seats, 40 have gone to Kashmir. After one or two years, these 50 seats would have become 400 seats. Out of those 400 seats, possibly 200 or 250 children would have been from Jammu. Tomorrow, those children will not get medical college seats because you got the entire college shut down in the name of religion," Abdullah said. He said the children who will not get medical college seats in future because of the closure of this medical college. One should remember these "Sangharsh Samiti people forever," he said. In response to another question about the meeting, he said the performance in the Samba district has been good in terms of development and governance. "There is a need to slightly speed up work in one or two areas.

An inspection was carried out, and instructions were given. I hope that by March 31, when the financial year ends, the performance of Samba district will be noticeably better compared to other districts," the chief minister said.

On recent controversies over the selection of players for football and cricket teams, mostly from Kashmir, Abdullah said, "As far as I am concerned, I do not care what religion a player belongs to. I only care that the performance of the Jammu and Kashmir team should be good." He said that tomorrow he would be meeting the U-16 cricket team, which lifted the Vijay Merchant Trophy for the first time, to personally congratulate each one of them. "I hope that in the future as well, the teams formed from here will go forward and return successfully," Abdullah said.