Is the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board turning anti-Hindu?
Dear Manoj Sinha Ji,
The aggrieved Hindu community in Jammu, including the grossly ignored student community, is seething with anger. They are chafing. Many Hindu organisations are holding press conferences and organising protests in their own style, almost on a daily basis, to attract the attention of the concerned authorities to the rigorous exclusion of the minority Hindu candidates from the first-ever MBBS select list, which was made public by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board/ University/ Medical College only a few days ago. They are urging the authorities to withdraw the anti-Hindu select list and demanding a fair admission policy. Their grouse and demand just could not be dismissed as something silly and preposterous. Their grouse is genuine and their demand justifiable. That the admission policy adopted by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board/ University/ Medical College makes unjust, invidious, and humiliating distinctions between the Hindu and Muslim candidates can be seen from the fact that as many as 42 out of 50 admitted candidates are Muslims. In other words, only 08 Hindu candidates have been selected.
The 1998 Jammu Revolt
Sir, let me bring to your kind notice the circumstances under which Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University was established. The movement for the establishment of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University and Agriculture University was started at 9.30 a.m. on February 28, 1998, from the classroom where I was taking MA History first year class. Actually, that day, a group of students led by Jammu Joint Students Federation (JJSF) president, Rajinder Singh Jamwal (currently an advocate and BJP leader), entered my classroom. He was a law student. Hari Dutt Shishu (currently J&K BJP spokesperson) and then president of the Jammu University Research Scholars Association (JURSA) was also with him. Rajinder Singh Jamwal asked me to leave the class, as they wanted to discuss with my students two issues: almost total exclusion of Jammu candidates from the MBBS/ BDS select list and creation of a separate Competent Authority for the Jammu region. I was then Head of Jammu University’s History Department.
I told them that I will also join the movement if they include in their charter of demands two more demands: the establishment of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University and Agriculture University. They agreed and the movement started with people from all walks of life, including lawyers, business leaders, shopkeepers, transporters, women and girl students, and senior citizens, extending their fullest possible support to it.
Convinced that the student community and the general masses were committed to achieving their goal at any cost, the Jammu-based Congress leaders and the BJP also joined the movement. It became a mass movement within a few days. Complete shutdowns, long marches, blockade of highways, including highways leading to Kashmir, police-crowd clashes, and violence became the order of the day. Jammu witnessed a continuous bandh for 12 days, a chain hunger strike for 43 days, and a fast-unto-death for 30 days. Besides, the educational institutions remained closed for 67 days, business establishments remained closed for 15 days, and the community of lawyers suspended work for almost a month. Transport also remained off the road for 15 days. Not just this, demand seeking state status for Jammu province was also raised.
Under-threat Farooq Abdullah government knelt
The nature and magnitude of the movement and the activities of the JJSF were such that the under-pressure Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah had to yield. The government, which on April 07 had already constituted a committee to look into the demands of the student community and to mollify it, arranged a meeting at the Circuit House, Jammu, on April 10. Seven members belonging to the JJSF, the Jammu Joint Action Committee (JJAC), which was headed by senior advocate Ved Raj Wazir, and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad (ABVP) were invited for talks. The seven members included this writer, Rajinder Singh Jamwal, Satish Gupta, and Prithavi Raj Gupta (business leaders), H. C. Jhelmeria (advocate), the JURSA president, Hari Dutt Shishu, and the ABVP state secretary, Vishal Sharma. I represented the JJSF. The government was represented by National Conference ministers, Bodh Raj Bali, elder brother of my friend Jog Raj Bali, and Ajay Sadhotra, younger brother of my friend Abhinash Sadhotra, Additional Chief Secretary, Ajit Kumar, Divisional Commissioner Jammu, B. S. Jaswal, Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Suresh Kumar, and IGP Jammu, Kuldeep Khoda. Then Director of Information, K. B. Jandial, was also present at the Circuit House.
During the meeting, the government representatives tried their best to divert the issues on the plea of “legal hassles”. They also misrepresented the facts concerning the setting up of the long-pending Agriculture University, which was announced by then Prime Minister, H. D. Deve Gowda, and later endorsed by his successor, Inder Kumar Gujral. I countered the arguments advanced by Ajay Sadhotra with facts and figures. I opened my red bag and took out of it a copy of the D.O. letter No. 5(2)/96EDN-II, dated Feb 22, 1997. It was written by R. S. Parodha, Secretary-Director General, Department of Agriculture and Research, Government of India, to B. N. Yugandhar, Secretary in the Prime Minister’s office. I confronted the official representatives with this letter. The letter, a copy of which had also been sent to the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary, had clearly stated that “State University for Agriculture be set up at Jammu on the pattern of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture, Science and Technology (SKUAST), Srinagar”. The D.O. letter rendered the government representatives clueless and helpless. They, including Ajay Sadhotra, ate humble pie.
They then tried to divert the issue by saying that the government would need sufficient time to prepare a Bill for the establishment of the Agriculture University. They again had to eat humble pie. I opened my red bag, took out of it a copy of the Bill on the Agriculture University, and confronted them with that copy. I had to do it to prove the government representatives wrong.
It was Bodh Raj Bali who then started a discussion on the issue of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University. He made certain untenable points and misleading statements. It was, then, my turn. I told him that “I have in my possession the negative and communally-motivated cabinet proceedings on the issue of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University.” I also said, “Please don’t compel me to take out of my bag those proceedings. If I did so, you people would be in trouble.” “Don’t open your bag.” He virtually pleaded.
The government representatives also had to cut a sorry figure for the third time in a row. They claimed that “no Bill had been drafted for the setting up of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University.” I was left with no other option but to again open my red bag. I took out of it a copy of the Bill on Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, which had been drafted by the Education Commissioner in 1997 for its introduction in the State Assembly for approval. I placed before the government representatives a copy of the drafted bill.
A report in Daily Excelsior (Apr 11, 1998) in this regard, among other things, said, “the government side felt embarrassed as the negotiating ministers and officials were not equipped with material information on the demands.”
The April 10 meeting produced the desired result. It had virtually frightened the Farooq Abdullah government. Convinced that it would collapse if it failed to meet the popular demands, the Farooq Abdullah government introduced Bills in the Assembly on April 22 for the establishment of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi and Agriculture Universities. Both the Bills were adopted in no time, and both the universities were finally established. This, despite the fact that the treasury benches and all the Kashmir-based legislators had opposed tooth and nail both the Bills and demanded that the same be referred to the Select Committee. Farooq Abdullah put his foot down. He rejected all their pleas and objections.
The people of Jammu celebrated the adoption of these two Bills as their spectacular victory. Indeed, it was. Indeed, they had brought the government of Farooq Abdullah to their knees.
Farooq Abdullah and his team of advisors believed that the adoption of the Bills on the universities would restore peace in Jammu province, but it did not happen. Instead, the JJSF and the JJAC further intensified the movement to force his government to scrap the MBBS/ BDS select list and establish a separate Competent Authority for Jammu province.
The Singhal Committee Report/ Recommendations
In the meantime, Vice-Chancellor of Jammu University, Professor R. R. Sharma, who was out of the country for some time, returned to Jammu. There are reasons to believe that Farooq Abdullah used the good offices of the Vice-Chancellor to defuse the situation. The government also started contacting the JJSF leadership and other student organisations, which were part of the movement. The government also contacted certain “aggrieved candidates.” The efforts produced the desired results, and it was decided that a meeting would be held between the Chief Secretary, Ashok Jaitley, and the JJSF and ABVP leadership on May 06. I, along with JJSF leaders, told the Vice-Chancellor that we would meet the Chief Secretary only if he agreed to come to Jammu University to hold negotiations. The mortally afraid Farooq Abdullah government knelt. Ashok Jaitley came all the way from Srinagar to Jammu University to hold talks with student leaders.
The talks were held in the office of the Vice-Chancellor. In between, a JJSF activist, who was a part of the negotiating team, came to my university residence at least three times to consult me. Significantly, a very senior RSS leader, Ramesh Sabbarwal, was at my residence when all this was happening. He watched everything with interest.
The representatives of the JJSF, the JURSA, the Jammu University Cultural Council (JUCC), and “aggrieved students” finally signed the agreement with the government. The Divisional Commissioner Jammu, B. S. Jaswal, signed the agreement on behalf of the government in the presence of the Vice-Chancellor and Chief Secretary. It took three and a half hours to clinch the issue. The movement came to an end the same day.
Sir, the Farooq Abdullah government had constituted a committee to look into the demands of the aggrieved student community vide Government Order No. 442-GAD of 1998, dated April 7, 1998. It was a three-member committee. Professor R. P. Singhal, former Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education and former Executive Director, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, was its chairman. The two members of the committee were Professor D. K. Rampal, Director, Centre for New Literatures, Jammu University, and Professor A. R. Kidwai, Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University.
The committee submitted its report to the government on January 11, 1999. It candidly acknowledged that the selection test conducted by the Competent Authority did not ensure a fair share for the Jammu region. It also acknowledged that while the share of Jammu in the technical and professional institutions consistently declined, the share of the Kashmir division “constantly increased disproportionately to the size of the population of the two regions.”
Ratio of Kashmiris and Jammu people in selections for admission to MBBS colleges, 1987-1997
The committee acknowledged that the “question of regional disparity is a sore point with the body of students, teachers and people of Jammu region and requires immediate consideration of the government, so that some measures may be taken to remove the dissatisfaction for the future”. In fact, the committee appreciated the solution as put forth by the Jammu University Teachers Association (JUTA) and the JJSF and made an unambiguous recommendation. It read like this: “As is the existing practice for admissions to polytechnic courses where one Common Entrance Test is held by the Competent Authority for both the divisions, but the selection list is declared separately for the two divisions, the Competent Authority may hold one Common Entrance Test for the two divisions for medical and engineering courses, but the selection lists may be separately issued for the two divisions. The admissions in these colleges (government and private) should be made by the respective universities in accordance with the prevalent admission rules under their (1969 Jammu and Kashmir Universities) Acts. The seats in Jammu colleges (medical as well as engineering) should be earmarked for candidates belonging to the Jammu region, and those in Kashmir colleges should be earmarked for candidates belonging to the Kashmir region. A certain number of seats may be reserved in each university for the Ladakh region in proportion to their population”.
The Singhal Committee Report was the second splendid victory of the minority community of Hindus.
Sir, it is disturbing that the Singhal Committee report continues to gather dust in the Kashmir-controlled and dominated Civil Secretariat even today. I request you to intervene. And, there is but one way in which justice could be dispensed, and that is by implementing the Singhal Committee report in its entirety. Not just this, I also request you to declare Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University a minority institution.
The minority community sincerely believes that you will look all these facts in the face and dispense justice to the aggrieved Hindu community in Jammu province.
Sincerely yours,
Professor Hari Om
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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