Jammu’s Dogra heartland has found a new cause to protest — a proposed National Law University in Kashmir — prompting chief minister Omar Abdullah to ask why nobody talked of parity when Jammu got both an IIT and an IIM in 2016.
The Jammu protests .ome amid a controversial decision by the National Medical Commission to withdraw permission, over alleged deficiencies, to the newly set up Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Excellence Medical College to operate an MBBS course with its maiden batch of 50 students.
Many here believe this was done at the behest of the BJP and its Rightwing ecosystem, angry that 42 of the 50 students who had qualified through the national-level NEET were Muslims.
Earlier, Jammu’s Dogras had protested against Kashmiri Muslims dominating Jammu and Kashmir’s senior football team and under-14 cricket side.
At a recent protest at Jammu University, law students described the proposal for an NLU in Kashmir as a betrayal of Jammu. BJP parliamentarians have backed these protests.
The matter has been hanging fire since last October when the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly passed a resolution seeking an NLU in Kashmir. The BJP opposed the idea.
On Friday, BJP legislator R.S. Pathania vowed that the university would be set up in Jammu. He claimed Jammu deserved it because it has better law and order, connectivity and weather.
“This university should come to Jammu. It is our forceful demand. His (Omar’s) announcement will remain an announcement,” he said.
The chief minister on Monday expressed surprise at the demand and said no decision had yet been taken on where the NLU would be set up.
“When Jammu got IIM and IIT, what did Kashmir get at that time? Why didn’t you talk of parity then? Why was there no demand that if one (institute) was set up in Jammu, let the other be in Kashmir?” he told reporters in Jammu.
“You didn’t feel bad then, and see discrimination when it comes to the National Law University now.”
Kashmir has neither an IIT nor an IIM, although IIM Jammu set up a camp office in the Valley in 2020.
Reacting to Omar’s statement, BJP legislator Sham Lal Sharma said his party was echoing the sentiments of the people (of Jammu).
“We got everything through agitations; we got the IIT the same way. The IIM was given by the government of India. We got an AIIMS because of that (protests),” he said.
“If you (Omar) want us (to be) together, you should make judicious decisions.”
Sharma recently supported calls for the creation of a separate Jammu state.