Jammu, 5 December (H.S.): Demanding reservation of seats for Hindus at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence and other institutes being run by the Shrine Board, Hindu organizations and locals of Kakryal held separate protest demonstrations.

Rashtriya Bajrang Dal activists, led by their chief, Rakesh Kumar, assembled in heart of the city and took out a protest march towards Indira Chowk. They raised slogans, demanding “justice” for the Hindu community and against Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.

They also torched an effigy of the Chief Minister and the Shrine Board to register their protest against the duo.

Lashing out at the Chief Minister for his statement that the Shrine Board should pay the Government the land cost and stop receiving grant-in-aid, Bajrang Dal leader alleged that Omar Abdullah was behaving like a religious leader of Muslims of Kashmir rather than the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

Residents of Kakriyal, Katra, also staged a protest today against Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and recent statement of Chief minister Omar Abdullah over paying for the Government land and stop receiving grant-in-aid by SMVDU.

They raised slogans against the Chief Minister and demanded that reservation in Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence be made for Hindus and locals.

Meanwhile, Rashtriya Parshuram Parishad (RPP) convened a press conference today to register its vehement objection to the current operational trajectory of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB).

RPP National Spokesperson and President Jeeva Nand Sharma alleged that the Shrine Board has deviated from its statutory mandate, which is strictly the efficient management, maintenance, and administration of the Shrine fund for pilgrim convenience. Instead, he said, the Board has engaged in the commercialization of faith by establishing profit-oriented entities.

“If a Medical College is established via Shrine Board funds, it must serve the specific demographic that contributed those funds. We demand that until such legislation is enacted, current students from the non-donor community be transferred to other State Government colleges, and the Institute be kept in abeyance to prevent further social resentment,” Sharma said and appealed Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, in his capacity as Chairman of the Shrine Board, to intervene immediately.

RC Sharma, Raman Thappa, Chandan Dutta, Arjun Sharma, Pawan Sharma, Yash Pal Singh, Atulaya Bakshi, Narotam Sharma (Ex Corporator) and Prabanshu were also present in the press conference.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Krishan Kumar