Slightly more than hundred years ago, on December 26, 1924, Mahatma Gandhi as Congress president asserted in his speech at Belgaum session of Indian National Congress, “I should have not the slightest hesitation in closing down a school or college that is indifferent to the admission of non-Hindu boys or that shuts its door against the entry of untouchables…”.
In gross violation of that inclusive vision of Gandhi, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has now taken an unprecedented decision to close down the MBBS course at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) in Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, after the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and other Hindutva outfits started an unconstitutional agitation against the selection of 43 non-Hindu students, including 42 Muslims and one Sikh among the first batch of 50 students. This is after they cleared the NEET exams to enrol themselves for courses of medical education. The agitators were arguing that only Hindu students should be enrolled in that Institute as money spent for running it comes from offerings made by Hindu pilgrims at the Vaishno Devi shrine of Jammu, wilfully ignoring the Rs 24 crores which the Jammu and Kashmir government gave to it during 2024-25.
It is worthwhile to mention that in the list of selected candidates based on merit there were also seven students professing Hinduism. The formal reason cited by the NMC for closing down the medical education at SMVDIM by withdrawing permission for MBBS course was that it lacked required facilities and did not fulfil the criteria mandating essential standards for medical education.
Shocking agitation
It is indeed shocking that about 60 Hindu groups, including the BJP formed Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangarsh Samiti (SMVDSS) to launch an agitation first for scratching the admission of Muslim students and later for closure of the medical college itself.
It is with anguish one notes that the BJP and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangarsh Samiti (SMVDSS) danced with joy to welcome the decision to close down the SMVDIME itself, even as the prime minister talks ad nauseum about Viksit Bharat, or developed India, by 2047, marked by the all round progress of the nation including in the field of medical education.
The ruling National Conference and Congress have sharply criticised the BJP over this de-recognition of SMVDIME and described it as a fatal blow to the development of the region and aspirations of the youth to pursue medical education.
National Conference provincial president Jammu Rattan Lal Gupta remarked, “The cancellation of the recognition of the Vaishno Devi medical college is the work of BJP.” Gupta charged that BJP in a calculated manner spewed venom in the name of faith and promoted discord between Hindus and Muslims to take Jammu on the path of destruction.
He proceeded to remark, “The medical college was sanctioned and classes were going on. They got it cancelled in the name of religion. Future generations will never forgive them.”
Deafening silence of Modi
Blinded by hatred against Muslims, the BJP along with other Hindutva outfits spearheaded an agitation against SMVDIME and neither prime minister Modi, education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan or health minister J.P. Nadda uttered a word against that agitation which was privileging religious identity of selected candidates. The BJP has bulldozed the hard earned merit of students who had cleared the medical examination.
In fact, the SMVDSS described the cancellation of recognition of Vaishno Devi Medical College as a “victory” and the convenor the Samiti, Colonel (retired) Sukhvir Mankotia proudly stated, “This agitation lasted for 45 days …We are thankful to union home minister and union health minister for respecting our faith.”
Such scornful treatment by the BJP and the Modi regime of our youth pursuing medical education has no parallel in the history of our country.
Gandhi, Dandi March and medical education
When Mahatma Gandhi was spearheading his epoch-making Dandi March in 1930 to break the iniquitous law prohibiting Indians to make salt from seawater, the famous British medical journal Lancet carried an article by one ‘M.B’ who appealed to the agitators to be mindful of the dependence of Indians on British doctors for seeking medical facilities to deal with their ailments in spite of advancements of medical education in the country. It was written in the Lancet: “Whatever political agitators may say and in spite of the growth of medical education in India, that country will need British doctors for a long time to come. Even Mr. Gandhi (who was himself operated by a British surgeon in the I. M. S.) would probably admit the truth of this statement. So far as I know you were operated by the Civil Surgeon of Poona while you were a prisoner in jail. But the insinuation seems to be that you preferred to be operated by a British I. M. S. officer, because he was more capable.”
Those remarks in the Lancet were dismissed by Gandhi in his piece, A Vicious Insinuation published in Young India on April 10, 1930. In that piece he presciently claimed, “…[I]f the British withdrew India could be self-contained without the slightest difficulty and that in spite of open or veiled obstruction from the ruling caste.”
The British have left India and the spread of medical education in India has produced high quality doctors who have been acclaimed across the world. But that “veiled obstruction from the ruling caste” so sharply observed by Gandhi to flag the impediments caused by British rule for promotion of medical education, are now being played out in the ruling party of India, BJP’s, insidious agitation against youth by targeting their faith.
Prime Minister Modi who during his last election campaign for the Lok Sabha said that he wanted to see Muslims of India holding the Quran in one hand and a laptop in the other was deafeningly silent when leaders of his own party, BJP, agitated against the selection of Muslim candidates for an MBBS course on the strength of their merit and celebrated the closure of SMVDIME. In doing so, they are acting like British rulers. The voices opposing the celebrations and taking a stand against the closure of SMVDIME reflect the vision of Gandhi that independent India would shine, including in the field of medical education.
S.N. Sahu
The writer served as Officer on Special Duty to former President K.R. Narayanan.
Courtesy: The Wire
Friday, February 6, 2026