Jammu: Protests by Hindutva groups have escalated in Jammu after the appointment of Muslim doctors at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Hospital and the release of the first MBBS admissions list at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence. The groups argued that institutions linked to the shrine should prefer Hindu staff and Hindu students.
The Yuva Rajput Sabha led the protests. Its members claimed that a hospital supported by donations from Hindu devotees should employ Hindu doctors and support personnel. The tension increased further when details of the 2025 to 2026 MBBS batch became public. Out of fifty seats, forty two went to Muslim students. Seven went to Hindu students. One went to a Sikh student.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal criticised the admissions. They described the selection list as lacking what they called religious balance. The VHP’s general secretary Bajrang Bagra wrote to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on November one. He described the admissions as a threat to the identity of a shrine associated institution. He urged the Shrine Board to appoint Hindu faculty and staff in future and to revisit its recruitment and admission practices.
Current rules do not allow any preference based on religion. The Shrine Board Hospital and SMVDIME follow NEET rankings and Jammu and Kashmir domicile regulations. The process does not include any religious criteria.
Even after these clarifications, the protests continued. Rakesh Bajrangi of the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal described the distribution of seats as discriminatory. He demanded immediate intervention from authorities. The Shrine Board has not issued a formal response to the objections raised by the groups.
