In 1988, eminent educationist Aga Ashraf was the chairman of the Competent Authority, which at that time was the agency for admitting students to Government Medical College and Regional Engineering College, both in Srinagar, and other professional institutions. There were very few of these. Ashraf was a man of highest integrity. The entrance test was followed by an “interview” in which he would invariably sit.
One of the Kashmiri Pandit students, who had high scores in academics as well as the entrance exam, appeared for the interview for admission to Government Medical College, Srinagar. Ashraf advised him with all honesty that he should try outside as “four” seats meant for the non-Muslims had already been “decided”. He could not get admission anywhere else. He later switched to humanities and is now doing very well in the banking sector.
That is how discrimination was institutionalised against the minorities in Kashmir in the good old days. It was an accepted fact. Even men of highest integrity like Aga Ashraf could not do anything. Four seats in a batch of 100 or so were supposed to be more than enough for non-Muslim Kashmiris as their population proportion was just that much. Those were the good old days when Kashmir was completely peaceful and fundamentalist streak had not gotten into the system. Yet communal discrimination was practiced to the hilt. This was also because of the belief that non-Muslims had manipulated the system for too long and had been grabbing jobs and other opportunities, which was being undone now.
The ongoing stir in Jammu against the admission of 42 Muslim candidates in a batch of 50 in the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Education (SMVIME) has a reason and a background. The non-Muslim minorities, whether in Kashmir or in Jammu region, have been subjected to consistent discrimination by the successive regimes in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1947. Since Kashmir region has always dominated politically, the Jammu region has consistently suffered on all fronts.
The protests against the admission of 42 (94 per cent) Muslims is an expression of anger over the historical discrimination that the Jammu region has suffered. That this should happen when the state is now a Union Territory is also shocking for the people. The protests have more regional than communal reasons. This is not happening for the first time.
When Kashmiri Pandits were forced to migrate to Jammu region, thousands of students were not allowed admissions in the colleges affiliated to Jammu University or the Jammu branch of Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education. The Governor’s administration that time started special classes for the displaced students in Jammu’s schools and colleges in the evening session. These were sort of new colleges, which were affiliated with Kashmir University and the Srinagar branch of the Education Board and not Jammu University or the Jammu branch of the Education Board despite being within their geographical jurisdiction. The Kashmiri students suffered a lot as their fate was linked with Kashmir University and Board there. Kashmir used to remain shut down. In the early 1990s, the academic sessions of the displaced Kashmiri students lasted for as long as two years, leading to loss of precious time. A three-year degree would normally take five to six years.
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This was because the administration that time wanted to protect the interests of the local students. And there was nothing wrong in it. Jammu already had limited resources and educational institutions. Thousands of students could not be accommodated there.
The National Medical Commission has withdrawn the approval to SMVDIME. The reasons are evident. The institute was understandably set up on the pattern of various other minority institutions, but lost its purpose with a faulty admission process.
This has caused much heartburn among the “secular” lobby of Kashmir. Imagine those crying “secularism” who have least practiced it themselves and who openly believe that secularism goes against their religious belief.
The medical college set up by the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board would be run on the donations from devotees to the shrine. May be the government will also provide some grants. But primarily it had to come from the shrine donations. Secular rhetoric aside, the admission of the students from a different, rather a contrarian faith, is also understandable. But there should have been a balance. The students from other religions could have been accommodated but not 94 per cent. That would not be acceptable to anyone.
The same ecosystem from Kashmir, which is crying “communal victimhood” is fiercely opposing the reservations because it believes that the benefit of reservations would go to non-Muslims only, since there are no Scheduled Castes among the Muslims.
Those up in arms against the admission need to be understood, not demonised. There is a reason for them to protest. They have long-pending grievances for being consistently discriminated against by successive regimes. Now that the National Medical Council has cancelled the approval of the college, the row has ended for the time being. The UT government is planning to accommodate the students in some other medical colleges.
Those who set up the medical college should have taken due care of such things and applied under the provision of “minority institution” that would protect the interests of the community. Muslims, Sikhs and Christians are running such institutions, including medical and engineering colleges where a specific number of seats are reserved for students from the community. Had that been done, the current situation would have been averted.
The admission of 42 Kashmiri majority community students (in context of Jammu and Kashmir) in a batch of 50 is also illustrative of how the system has been dominant and discriminatory towards the non-Muslim minorities. Fighting against communal and sectarian dominance is not communalism or bigotry. Those describing it so are like the pot calling the kettle black.
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