Recently protests have emersed in Jammu, cantered around the MBBS admissions at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME). People are angry, especially members of right-wing Hindu groups, and they’re not holding back. The controversy? Out of the first batch of 50 students, 42 come from Kashmir, and most are reportedly Muslim. That’s set off a criticism. Groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, with support from a BJP MLA, are demanding the college to cancel the final admissions list. Protestors demand reservations for Hindu students, disagreeing that the college was constructed with contributions from Hindu devotees.
Here’s what the protesters want: they’re calling for the MBBS admissions for 2025–26 to be frozen right now. They say the seat allocation needs a do-over, so more Hindu students get in. And while the college isn’t officially a minority institution, protest leaders are pushing for Hindu reservations, since the school was funded by the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.
College officials, not keen to be named, insist they did everything by the book. Admissions followed the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) rules, which means selecting students based on NEET rankings. For all 13 medical colleges in Jammu & Kashmir, 85% of seats should go to local students, and the rest seats are for the all-India quota. The admissions process has been delayed because the college only got official approval on September 8—pretty late in the game. So, when the third round of counselling came around, they put together the final list of 50 students, which, they say, explains the unusual admission numbers.
On the political front, the VHP’s J&K president, Rajesh Gupta, is demanding a fix that Favors Hindus. Rakesh Bajrang, who leads the J&K Bajrang Dal, claims the entrance exams board is biased. Meanwhile, Rattan Lal Gupta from the National Conference blames the Shrine Board, saying if they’d applied for minority status for the college, all this could have been avoided.
This is the first batch for SMVDIME, which just got the green light for its 50 MBBS seats. The whole situation highlights a bigger discussion: should admissions focus only on merit, or should the collage favour religious community that funded the college? With tensions running high and both sides digging in, it’s clear this is about more than just a list of names—it’s about who gets to decide what’s fair in a place where religion and education are deeply linked.