The ABVP claims that the Kashmiri students were, in fact, anti-national elements. They were corroding the educational institutions and vitiating the atmosphere of the Campuses. The ABVP has pointed out that of the 400 PG students in Bhopal’s Barkatullah University, as many 175 were from the Kashmir Valley. The ABVP also alleges that the provision to give admission to students from the families of displaced Kashmiri Pandits was being misused by the students from the Valley.

Now, in order to curb the influx of the Kashmiri students, the State government has changed its admission policy. While the old rules referred only to “Kashmiri students”, the new guidelines talk of “displaced Kashmiris” i.e. Kashmiri Pandits. The decision has almost closed the doors of the educational institutions in the State to Kashmiri students. Not only that, strict instructions have been issued to the Registrars of all the Universities not to admit Kashmiri students. These informal and secret instructions, were, somehow leaked to the media.

It may be recalled that the “Kashmiri visthapit quota” (Quota for displaced Kashmiris) was introduced by BJP governments and though it was never spelt out, it may have been intended to address only the Kashmiri Pandits. However, if the idea was to initiate an affirmative action for those displaced by violence from Kashmir, then, logically, it extended to all young Kashmiris, deprived of educational opportunities in their own State. And most Universities, indeed, had interpreted the quota in that way and had opened their doors to all Kashmiris, irrespective of their religion.

The State government’s decision to deprive Kashmiri students of the opportunity to study in MP evoked a sharp and angry reaction from the J & K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. He deplored it as a “disgraceful attempt by Hindutva groups to keep Kashmiri students out of Madhya Pradesh”.

Reacting to Abdullah’s remark, the MP Higher education Minister Laxmikant Sharma claimed that Kashmiri students were not being discriminated against in MP. He described Abdullah’s comment as “unnecessary and uncalled for”. Sharma said that “Abdullah should not view the admission process from a communal angle. His vision is distorted. He should have checked with the State government before making any comment”.

According to Sharma, the State government had issued guidelines for admission on June 6. He said that the new rules provided that students from other states, including those from Kashmir, should be given admission only after accommodating all the applicants from MP. He said that in those institutions in the State, which were funded by the Union government, the quota of 80 per cent for students from the state and 20 per cent for those from other states remained unchanged.

However, things are not as simple as what the MP Minister made them out to be. Besides academic guidelines, separate rules have also been framed for police verification of students from other States. They will be required to produce character certificate from their respective previous institutions, the police will verify their antecedents and even the documents submitted by them will be vetted through the police. They will be given admission only in courses in which students from MP do not show interest. The students from other states, who stay in hostels, will be required to seek prior permission of the Wardens, for putting up their guests or other students in their rooms.

It is alleged that the rules of admission have been changed under the pressure of the ABVP. There is evidence to show that the ABVP has been consistently trying to sow the seeds of discord among students on communal lines. Both in and outside the campuses, the behaviour of its cadres is arrogant and violent. A Professor of a college in Ujjain was killed after being manhandled by ABVP workers. Several ABVP functionaries, including its State chief, were found guilty. They were tried in a court of law, which acquitted them of the murder charge. It is alleged that a lot of pressure was mounted on the witnesses in the case. Most of them turned hostile. The teachers of the college were also threatened to keep their mouth shut.

About a few months back, ABVP workers attached a teacher in Khandwa. They resort to violence, whenever their demands — mostly unjustified — are not met. There have been many cases of ABVP workers forcibly entering the chambers of college Principals, manhandling them and damaging furniture and equipments. The police seldom take action against them. Most of the educational institutions and their heads are mortally afraid of the ABVP activists.

It is unfortunate that ABVP’s writ is being allowed to run in the academic field in MP. But its demand to deny admissions to Kashmiri students has national implications. The ABVP’s malicious propaganda against the Muslim students from Kashmir is bound to further alienate the people of Kashmir - something the country can ill-afford. (IPA Service)