Saba Ghulam Nabi
FOR decades, the people of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir have lived under occupation, checkpoints, shutdowns and constant fear.
Education became the fragile escape, the space where effort mattered more than identity: study hard, clear exams, build a life. Today, even this path seems uncertain. The recent shutdown of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Medical Institute shows how deeply Hindutva politics has penetrated spaces once governed by merit. What should have been a routine academic success story—students qualifying for medical seats through national examinations—has become another episode in the slow communalization of opportunity.
Kashmiri Muslims cleared the country’s toughest medical entrance test in large numbers. Instead of celebration, their success triggered protests and deprived them of admission, revealing how far the system has drifted. Admissions to medical colleges in India are determined through NEET, a centralized, religion-neutral exam taken by millions.
At Reasi’s Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Medical College, 42 of 50 selected students were Muslim, most from Kashmir. They sought no special treatment; they simply scored high and chose a nearby college. Yet their majority presence was politicized under BJP policies toward Kashmiri Muslims. Right-wing groups objected, citing the college’s affiliation with a Hindu shrine trust, implying Muslims did not belong. This shift from meritocracy to majoritarianism became unmistakable.
Weeks of protests followed and the National Medical Commission revoked the college’s recognition, citing infrastructural shortcomings. The explanation was bureaucratic; the timing political. If deficiencies were serious, they should have been identified before admission. Instead, they surfaced after communal pressure. Students who had done everything right were sent home—dreams postponed, careers disrupted, futures uncertain.
For Kashmiri Muslim families, this echoes broader exclusion: shrinking government employment, recruitment scrutiny, barriers to scholarships and suspicion even in ordinary mobility. Education, once relatively fair, now appears vulnerable. Under the BJP government led by Narendra Modi, governance increasingly revolves around religious sentiment and majoritarian entitlement. Institutions are reimagined as cultural property tied to one community rather than as public goods. Once education is treated as religious territory, equality collapses. A medical college cannot belong to one faith if it operates under national laws, receives public funds and admits students through a centralized exam. Merit lists questioned because too many candidates from one community succeed render the exam meaningless. What happened in Reasi sets a dangerous precedent: collective Muslim success is framed as a problem, not regulation. Students who studied through power cuts and unrest and families, who sacrificed everything, face injustice.
Muslim institutions like Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia admit Hindus, Sikhs and other minorities without controversy. If Muslim students are excluded, the precedent risks targeting other minorities. Medical education must remain free from communal politics; hospitals don’t ask about faith and doctors save lives through skill, not identity. Turning admissions into a religious contest weakens students and the foundations of a modern society.
Kashmir’s youth already bear the weight of conflict; denying opportunities despite merit deepens injustice and distrust. When religion replaces merit, education stops being a ladder of hope and becomes another wall. If Hindutva-driven logic is allowed to stand, discrimination will extend to jobs and public life; even healthcare could be communalized, with treatment decided by faith rather than need or competence.
—The writer is Research Officer at the Centre for International Strategic Studies.
