MOBOCRACY OVERTAKES WISDOM

By Sandeep Pandey and Mir Shahid Saleem

Shri Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti, a conglomerate of Hindutva groups, has been successful in closing down the MBBS programme of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence based in Katra merely because 42 of the 50 students admitted to the programme based on their NEET performance happened to be Muslims. Although, the interference of Hindtuva ideology in more subtler forms has been happening in academic institutions since the Modi government came to power but this is by far the most crude example of it.

The argument of Hindtuva groups that it was the donations from Mata Vaishno Devi devotees which were used to set up the institute and hence it is a disrespect to the sentiments of the donors if a majority of Muslim students avail the benefit of this institute, is only partly true. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has clarified that the J&K government had allocated around 80 kanals of land to this institute and has given regular annual grants for its functioning. During the last year it got Rs. 24 crore and in the current year Rs. 28 crore have been allotted to this institute by the Union Territory government.

The National Medical Commission which had given approval to the institute to offer a MBBS programme merely four months back, conducted a surprise inspection at a 15 minutes notice on January 2 and decided to revoke its own approval more under the pressure of ongoing protests by Hindutva groups than the farcical report it has produced after inspection. The students were asked to return to their homes and will be adjusted in supernumerary seats elsewhere but the faculty members will have to start searching for jobs afresh.

As an afterthought the BJP leader of opposition in J&K Assembly Sunil Kumar Sharma said the devotees wanted their donations to be used for propagation of Sanatana Dharma. It would be interesting to actually enquire from the donors whether they would like their donations to support the medical institution which their children can attend to become doctors or set up a Vedic Research Centre or Gurukul according to claims made by Sharma.

The Hindutva organisations are setting a very dangerous precedent. They are saying Muslim students cannot study in an institution which has received part of the funding from Hindu devotees. Were these medicine students after becoming doctors going to treat only Muslim patients? The next thing these communal organisations might say is Hindu doctors will treat only Hindu patients and Muslims should look for Muslim doctors. If a situation arises that one of these Hindutva activists needed blood for himself or any of his family members admitted in a hospital, will he ensure that only blood from a Hindu is used for transfusion? Things can be stretched to ludicrous extents the way these Hindutva organisations have been appeased by the ruling dispensation.

And how can we segregate Hindu and Muslim donations? In a mixed society and a syncretic culture it will be a hair splitting exercise. Let us consider the case of the lone Hindu family who live in the Manjakote tehsil of Rajouri district of J&K. They run a general store and all their customers are Muslims because there are no other families in the neighbourhood. Will the income of this Hindu family from its Muslim clients be described as Hindu or Muslim?

Pilgrims going to the Vaishno Devi cave shrine themselves receive help from Muslim porters who provide all kinds of services from carrying people and luggage to providing ponies and palanquins, without whom the 13 km climb would prove to be an uphill task. Imagine if a demand similar to one being raised at present by Ganga Sabha in Haridwar to ban non-Hindus from the Kumbh area were to be enforced in Vaishno Devi trek area. The devotees will find it insurmountable without the help, both physical and moral, of Muslim porters.

Consider the psychological impact this incident is going to have on the 42 students who’ll go on to become doctors from some other institutions but it will be etched in their minds that some people could not tolerate their admission to MBBS programme merely because of their religion. They will be have to make an extra-human effort to remain above the religious divide in their lives in situations which will provoke them to be religiously biased.

What purpose the success of the Hindutva groups in forcing the government to shut the institute, obviously with the tacit approval of the RSS-BJP combine, will serve one doesn’t know, one thing is certain – the mob culture has acquired legitimacy. In 2019 when Feroze Khan was appointed as Assistant Professor in the Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vijnan of Banaras Hindu University, students protested saying how could a Muslim teach Sanskrit? But he was allowed to change his department and chose to teach Sanskrit in the Arts Faculty of BHU. Even though religion should not have mattered so long as the professor was competent, which he was as he got appointment in another department of the same university, students should not have been allowed to have a say in his appointment. Again the authorities gave in, with a cue from RSS-BJP. If the government had chosen to be strict this would not have happened. In 2024 when there was a lathi charge by police on Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad backed students’ protest against Shri Ramswaroop University in Barabanki, U.P., for admitting students in LLB programme even after Bar Council of India recognition had lapsed in 2021, the Yogi Adityanath government suspended four policemen and bulldozed an illegal structure on university campus to assuage the hurt feelings of ABVP. But what has happened in Jammu is worse. People on the street have decided the fate of an entire institution. We can expect more interference by the Hindutva brigade in the running of academic institutions henceforth,

Matters such as recognition of institutions, admission of students, curricula, appointment of faculty and vice-chancellors may now be decided on streets.  We are approaching a Taliban model which doesn’t allow girls to attend schools beyond primary and books by female authors in libraries in Afghanistan.

Once we’re done with religion then the next obvious categories will be caste, gender and ethnicity. The people opposed to the policy of reservation, who dominate the RSS, are often heard asking mockingly whether you would like to be treated by a doctor who got admission to study medicine through the reserved category? The doors may soon be closed for students from SC/ST and OBC in professional courses and the matter will be decided on street. Of course, the backwards, tribals and dalits will protest, but their demonstration will be quelled. The judges, instead of standing by the constitutional rights of deprived segments of the society, will be secretly happy to see the reservation system go away. Women too could be barred from attaining certain positions like the head of institutions. In Iran no woman can become the President of the country. Again the decision will be taken in streets by Hindutva men. Spaces, such as hostel accommodation and residential areas, may shut for citizens from Northeast and Kashmir.

We can say goodbye to things like wisdom, knowledge, merit, etc. No examinations, interviews, selection committees will be required. Decisions will be taken in RSS offices and executed by Bajrang Dals and ABVPs on street. Rest of the society will be expected to go along with them.

(Author duo are independent writers and this is their own thoughts)