New Delhi, 17 January (H.S.): The Congress party on Saturday demanded the immediate reopening of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence in Reasi district, Jammu and Kashmir, questioning the government's abrupt closure of the institution without prior notice or investigation.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Congress Rajya Sabha member and Jammu and Kashmir in-charge Syed Naseer Hussain challenged the authorities to clarify which specific complaint prompted this drastic action against the Vaishno Devi Medical College and why no opportunity for rectification was extended beforehand.

Hussain emphasized that the government could have conducted a thorough inquiry prior to any punitive measures, decrying the decision as hasty and procedurally deficient since no formal investigation preceded the shutdown. He pointed out that when admissions were granted in September last year, no scrutiny was undertaken at that juncture, accusing the administration of now injecting communalism into the education sector by targeting the college over its student composition.

The senior leader further alleged that dissenters against this perceived communalization are branded as anti-national, citing reduced funding to prestigious institutions like Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University as evidence of a deliberate ideological agenda.

Notably, the controversy erupted after 42 of the college's 50 MBBS seats for the current academic session were allotted to students from a single religious community, prompting the National Medical Commission to revoke the institute's permission to operate the course on January 6, citing serious deficiencies.

Congress insists on the college's prompt reinstatement to uphold educational equity and procedural fairness on January 17, 2026.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar