India shuts Kashmir medical college – after Muslims earned most admissions

India has unopen down a aesculapian assemblage successful Indian-administered Kashmir successful an evident capitulation to protests by right-wing Hindu groups implicit the admittance of an overwhelming fig of Muslim students into the prestigious course.

The National Medical Commission (NMC), a national regulatory authorization for aesculapian acquisition and practices, connected January 6 revoked the designation of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Medical Institute (SMVDMI), located successful Reasi, a mountainous territory overlooking the Pir Panjal scope successful the Himalayas, which separates the plains of Jammu from the Kashmir valley.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 4India’s VPN prohibition successful Kashmir ‘adds to intelligence pressure’, accidental residents
• list 2 of 4‘A nightmare’: Fear grips Indian students successful Bangladesh amid unrest
• list 3 of 4Why a Bollywood spy movie sparked a governmental tempest successful India and Pakistan
• list 4 of 4Uproar successful India implicit Bihar main curate pulling down Muslim woman’s hijab

Of the 50 pupils who joined the five-year bachelor’s successful medicine (MBBS) programme successful November, 42 were Muslims, astir of them residents of Kashmir, portion 7 were Hindus and 1 was a Sikh. It was the archetypal MBBS batch that the backstage college, founded by a Hindu spiritual foundation and partially funded by the government, had launched.

Admissions to aesculapian colleges crossed India, whether nationalist oregon private, travel a centralised entranceway examination, called the National Entrance Examination Test (NEET), conducted by the national Ministry of Education’s National Testing Agency (NTA).

More than 2 cardinal Indian students look for NEET each year, hoping to unafraid 1 of astir 120,000 MBBS seats. Aspirants usually similar nationalist colleges, wherever fees are little but cutoffs for admittance are high. Those who neglect to conscionable the cutoff but conscionable a minimum NTA threshold articulation a backstage college.

Like Saniya Jan*, an 18-year-old nonmigratory of Kashmir’s Baramulla district, who recalls being overwhelmed with euphoria erstwhile she passed the NEET, making her eligible to survey medicine. “It was a imagination travel existent – to beryllium a doctor,” Saniya told Al Jazeera.

When she joined a counselling league that determines which assemblage a NEET qualifier joins, she chose SMVDMI since it was astir 316km (196 miles) from her location – comparatively adjacent for students successful Kashmir, who often different person to question overmuch farther to spell to college.

Saniya’s thrilled parents drove to Reasi to driblet her disconnected astatine the assemblage erstwhile the world league started successful November. “My girl has been a topper since childhood. I person 3 daughters, and she is the brightest. She truly worked hard to get a aesculapian seat,” Saniya’s father, Gazanfar Ahmad*, told Al Jazeera.

But things did not spell arsenic planned.

Supporters of right-wing Hindu groups protesting against the politician of Indian-administered Kashmir, demanding that admissions to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence beryllium revoked, successful Jammu connected Saturday, December 27, 2025 [Channi Anand/ AP Photo]

‘No concern being there’

As soon arsenic section Hindu groups recovered retired astir the spiritual creation of the college’s inaugural batch successful November, they launched demonstrations demanding that the admittance of Muslim students beryllium scrapped. They argued that since the assemblage was chiefly funded from the offerings of devotees astatine Mata Vaishno Devi Temple, a salient Hindu shrine successful Kashmir, Muslim students had “no concern being there”.

The agitations continued for weeks, with demonstrators amassing each time extracurricular the robust gates of the assemblage and raising slogans.

Meanwhile, legislators belonging to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – which has been accused of pursuing anti-Muslim policies since coming to powerfulness successful 2014 – adjacent wrote petitions to Kashmir’s lieutenant governor, urging him to reserve admissions successful SMVDMI lone for Hindu students. The lieutenant politician is the federally appointed head of the disputed region.

In the days that followed, their demands escalated to seeking the closure of the assemblage itself.

As the protests intensified, the National Medical Commission connected January 6 announced that it had rescinded the college’s authorisation due to the fact that it had failed to “meet the minimum modular requirements” specified by the authorities for aesculapian education. The NMC claimed the assemblage suffered from captious deficiencies successful its teaching faculty, furniture occupancy, diligent travel successful outpatient departments, libraries and operating theatres. The adjacent day, a “letter of permission”, which authorised the assemblage to relation and tally courses, was withdrawn.

Hindu pilgrims connected their mode to the Vaishno Devi shrine remainder nether a shadiness and hold for transport extracurricular a railway presumption connected a blistery time successful Jammu, India, Wednesday, June 12, 2019. Far-right Hindu groups reason that due to the fact that the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Medical Institute is funded by donations from Hindu believers, the beingness of Muslims arsenic the bulk successful the pupil assemblage is violative to them [Channi Anand/ AP Photo]

‘The assemblage was good’

But astir students Al Jazeera talked to said they did not spot immoderate shortcomings successful the assemblage and that it was well-equipped to tally the aesculapian course. “I don’t deliberation the assemblage lacked resources,” Jahan*, a pupil who lone gave her 2nd name, said. “We person seen different colleges. Some of them lone person 1 cadaver per batch, portion this assemblage has 4 of them. Every pupil got an accidental to dissect that cadaver individually.”

Rafiq, a pupil who lone gave his 2nd name, said that helium had cousins successful sought-after authorities aesculapian colleges successful Srinagar, the biggest metropolis successful Indian-administered Kashmir. “Even they don’t person the benignant of facilities that we had here,” helium said.

Saniya’s father, Ahmad, besides told Al Jazeera that erstwhile helium dropped her disconnected astatine the college, “everything seemed normal”.

“The assemblage was good. The module was supportive. It looked similar nary 1 cared astir religion wrong the campus,” helium said.

Zafar Choudhary, a governmental expert based successful Jammu, questioned however the aesculapian regulatory assemblage had sanctioned the college’s authorisation if determination was an infrastructural deficit. “Logic dictates that their infrastructure would person lone improved since the classes started. So we don’t cognize however these deficiencies arose each of a sudden,” helium told Al Jazeera.

Choudhary said the request of the Hindu groups was “absurd” fixed that selections into aesculapian colleges successful India are based connected religion-neutral terms. “There is simply a strategy successful spot that determines it. A pupil is expected to springiness preference, and a batch of parameters are factored successful earlier the admittance lists are announced. When students are asked for their choices, they springiness aggregate selections alternatively than one. So however is it their fault?” helium asked.

Al Jazeera reached retired to SMVDMI’s enforcement head, Yashpal Sharma, via telephone for comments. He did not respond to calls oregon substance messages. The assemblage has issued nary nationalist connection since the revocation of its authorisation to connection aesculapian courses.

Supporters of right-wing Hindu groups outcry slogans demanding the revocation of admissions astatine the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence successful Jammu connected Saturday, December 27, 2025 [Channi Anand/ AP Photo]

‘They turned merit into religion’

Meanwhile, students astatine SMVDMI person packed their belongings and returned home.

Salim Manzoor*, different student, pointed retired that Indian-administered Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region, besides had a aesculapian assemblage wherever Hindu candidates are enrolled nether a quota reserved for them and different communities that correspond a number successful the region.

The BJP insists it ne'er claimed that Muslim students were unwelcome astatine SMVDMI, but encouraged radical to recognise the “legitimate sentiments” that millions of Hindu devotees felt towards the temple spot that founded it. “This assemblage is named aft Mata Vaishno Devi, and determination are millions of devotees whose spiritual emotions are powerfully attached to this shrine,” BJP’s spokesperson successful Kashmir, Altaf Thakur, told Al Jazeera. “The assemblage designation was withdrawn due to the fact that NMC recovered respective shortcomings. There’s nary question of the contented being astir Hindus and Muslims.”

Last week, Omar Abdullah, main curate of Indian-administered Kashmir, announced that SMVDMI students would not beryllium made to “suffer owed to NMC’s decision” and they would beryllium offered admissions successful different colleges successful the region. “These children cleared the National Entrance Examination Test, and it is our ineligible work to set them. We volition person supernumerary seats, truthful their acquisition is not affected. It is not hard for america to set each 50 students, and we volition bash it,” helium said.

Abdullah condemned the BJP and its allied Hindu groups for their run against Muslims joining the college. “People mostly combat for having a aesculapian assemblage successful their midst. But here, the combat was enactment up to person the aesculapian assemblage shut. You person played with the aboriginal of the aesculapian students of [Kashmir]. If ruining the aboriginal of students brings you happiness, past observe it.”

Tanvir Sadiq, a determination legislator belonging to Abdullah’s National Conference party, said that the assemblage that the aesculapian assemblage is portion of received much than $13m successful authorities assistance since 2017 – making each Kashmiris, and not donors to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine – stakeholders. “This means that anyone who is lawfully domiciled successful [Indian-administered Kashmir] tin spell and survey there. In a fewer decades, the assemblage would person churned retired thousands of caller aesculapian graduates. If a batch of them are Muslims today, time they would person been Hindus arsenic well,” helium told Al Jazeera.

Nasir Khuehami, who heads the Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association, told Al Jazeera the Hindu versus Muslim communicative threatened to “communalise” the region’s acquisition sector. “The communicative that due to the fact that the assemblage is tally by 1 peculiar community, lone students from that assemblage unsocial volition survey there, is dangerous,” helium said.

He pointed retired that Muslim-run universities, not conscionable successful Kashmir but crossed India, that were recognised arsenic number institutions did not “have an authoritative argumentation of excluding Hindus”.

Back astatine her location successful Baramulla, Saniya is disquieted astir her future. “I appeared for a competitory exam, which is 1 of the hardest successful India, and was capable to get a spot astatine a aesculapian college,” she told Al Jazeera.

“Now everything seems to person crashed. I came backmost location waiting for what determination the authorities volition instrumentality for our future. All this happened due to the fact that of our identity. They turned our merit into religion.”