On January 6, the National Medical Commission (NMC), India’s federal regulator for medical education, revoked the recognition of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Medical Institute (SMVDMI), located in Reasi district, a mountainous area overlooking the Pir Panjal range that separates the Jammu plains from the Kashmir Valley.
The decision came weeks after protests erupted over the religious composition of the college’s first-ever MBBS batch, launched in November.
Of the 50 students admitted, 42 were Muslims, most of them residents of Kashmir, while seven were Hindus and one was a Sikh.
The college, founded by a Hindu religious charity and partly funded by the government, had launched its first five-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme this year.
Admissions to medical colleges across India—both public and private—are conducted through a centralized system based on the National Entrance Examination Test (NEET), administered by the federal National Testing Agency (NTA).
More than two million students appear for the exam annually, competing for approximately 120,000 MBBS seats nationwide.
Students who score high typically enter public colleges, where fees are lower but cutoffs are steep. Those meeting the minimum threshold but falling short of public college cutoffs often enroll in private institutions, including SMVDMI.
One such student was Saniya Jan, an 18-year-old from Kashmir’s Baramulla district, who described her selection as a dream come true.
“It was a dream come true – to be a doctor,” she told Al Jazeera. She chose SMVDMI during counselling because it was 316 kilometers from her home, comparatively closer than other medical colleges.
Her parents drove her to Reasi when classes began in November. “My daughter has been a topper since childhood. I have three daughters, and she is the brightest. She really worked hard to get a medical seat,” her father, Gazanfar Ahmad, said.
However, soon after the academic session began, local Hindu groups launched protests, demanding that Muslim students’ admissions be scrapped.
Protesters argued that since the college was largely funded by offerings from devotees at the Mata Vaishno Devi Temple, a prominent Hindu shrine, Muslim students had “no business being there.”
Demonstrations continued for weeks, with protesters gathering daily outside the college gates and raising slogans.
Legislators from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wrote petitions to Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor, urging that admissions be reserved exclusively for Hindu students.
The lieutenant governor serves as the federally appointed administrator of the disputed region.
As protests escalated, demands extended to the complete closure of the college.
On January 6, the NMC announced it had withdrawn the college’s authorization, citing failure to meet “minimum standard requirements” for medical education.
According to the commission, the college suffered from deficiencies in teaching faculty, hospital bed occupancy, outpatient flow, library facilities, and operating theatres. A day later, the letter of permission allowing the college to operate was formally withdrawn.
Students, however, strongly disputed these claims. “I don’t think the college lacked resources,” said Jahan, a student who gave only her second name. “Some colleges only have one cadaver per batch. This college had four, and every student got individual dissection time.”
Another student, Rafiq, said relatives studying in government medical colleges in Srinagar lacked similar facilities. “Even they don’t have the kind of facilities that we had here,” he said.
Saniya’s father echoed these views, saying that during admission everything appeared normal. “The college was good. The faculty was supportive. It looked like no one cared about religion inside the campus,” he said.
Political analyst Zafar Choudhary, based in Jammu, questioned the timing of the NMC’s decision. “Logic dictates that infrastructure would have improved since classes began. So how did these deficiencies suddenly appear?” he asked.
He also dismissed the protesters’ demands as baseless, noting that admissions are religion-neutral. “There is a system in place. Students give multiple preferences, and selections are based on merit. How is it their fault?” he said.
Al Jazeera attempted to contact SMVDMI’s executive head, Yashpal Sharma, for comment, but he did not respond.
The college has issued no public statement since losing its authorization.
Students have since packed their belongings and returned home.
Another student, Salim Manzoor, pointed out that Hindu students are enrolled under reserved quotas in a medical college in Muslim-majority Kashmir, questioning why Muslim students were now being targeted elsewhere.
The BJP has denied claims that Muslim students were unwelcome, saying concerns stemmed from “religious sentiments” tied to the shrine.
BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur said the recognition was withdrawn solely due to regulatory shortcomings and not religious bias.
Last week, Omar Abdullah, chief minister of Indian-administered Kashmir, announced that affected students would be accommodated in other medical colleges through supernumerary seats, ensuring their education is not disrupted.
He strongly condemned the protests, stating: “You have played with the future of medical students. If ruining students’ futures brings you happiness, then celebrate it.”
Regional legislator Tanvir Sadiq said the university housing the medical college had received more than $13 million in government funding since 2017, making all Kashmiris stakeholders. “Anyone lawfully domiciled in Kashmir can study there,” he said.
Nasir Khuehami, head of the Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association, warned that framing education along religious lines could dangerously communalize the sector.
He noted that Muslim-run minority institutions across India do not exclude Hindu students.
Back in Baramulla, Saniya waits anxiously for her future to be decided. “I cleared one of the hardest exams in India and earned my seat on merit,” she said. “Now everything has crashed. This happened because of our identity. They turned our merit into religion.”
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