Reacting to the National Medical Commission (NMC) withdrawing permission for the medical college run by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board here, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said, “In the rest of the country, people fight for the establishment of medical colleges; here, people fought for a medical college to be closed.”
The Chief Minister was reacting to the closure of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) following an agitation against the admission of a majority of Muslim students.
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Omar Abdullah said that those who launched the agitation should now burst crackers to celebrate the closure of the institute, thereby destroying the careers of local youth.
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The Chief Minister said he has asked Health Minister Sakina Itoo to adjust the affected students in government medical colleges closer to their homes.
He added that students from the Jammu region would have benefited in the coming years as the number of MBBS seats at the college would have gradually increased.
Omar Abdullah had earlier strongly criticised the protests, stating that the students had earned their seats on merit, not as a favour. He pointed out that the university’s establishing Act makes no mention of religion-based admissions and that applying such criteria goes against the secular principles of the Constitution.
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