Ranchi, May 16: Medical students of the state are maintaining a strategic silence on the reservation policy despite a nationwide uproar on the quota system.

The silence of the medics here has come as a surprise because Jharkhand has always been on the forefront during the youth movements in the past. Many students of the Ranchi Medical College and Hospital (RMCH) then had appeared in their final year MBBS exams from jail during the JP Movement.

But this time, the medics are maintaining a silence since the state already has 50 per cent reservation. In Jharkhand, 26 per cent of the medical seats are reserved for OBCs, 14 per cent for SCs and 10 per cent for STs.

A junior doctor of RIMS, who does not belong to any of the reserved categories, said: ?We are silent as we know that our movement can damage the ongoing national agitation instead of supporting it. Initially, we held a meeting and decided to show solidarity with the agitating doctors, but then we realised that any agitation by the outnumbered general category candidates would provoke the majority of the students from the reserved categories to hold a pro-reservation movement. So, we decided to remain silent in the interest of the nationwide stir.?

Another student from Pataliputra Medical College and Hospital, Dhanbad, said there was up to 80 per cent reservation in Jharkhand since the reserved category candidates scoring high marks take admission against general category seats.

?An anti-reservation agitation by 20 students will be quelled by a pro-reservation movement by 80 students in Jharkhand,? he said.

Besides, the caste equation is so volatile in Jharkhand that any move in support or against the reservation policy can snowball into a major controversy beyond control, especially in RIMS, that has witnessed many caste-based violence in the past, he added.

President of the Jharkhand Junior Doctors? Association Nishith Ekka said they did not want to take up any issue that would divide the students.

?We are leading a peaceful life and the association has nothing to do with the agitation. It is up to the Supreme Court and Centre to decide on the reservation policy,? he said.

Student organisations like the ABVP and NSUI claim they cannot take any stand till they get the guidelines from the headquarters.

?Though there should be no reservation in medical and engineering colleges, I will not like to comment on the sensitive issue that can divide the society,? an ABVP office-bearer said.

Examination controller of the Jharkhand Combined Entrance Competitive Examinations Board Jai Shankar Tiwari said 49 per cent seats are already reserved in medical and engineering courses in the state.

Though he refused to comment on the reservation issue, sources confirmed that the reservation was up to 80 per cent since many candidates from the reserved categories compete on merit. These days, hardly 20 per cent seats are left for general category students, they said.