Ruhullah Mehdi Questions J&K Government Over Pressure on Striking Medical Interns
By : Sheikh Mohammad Isa
Srinagar Lok Sabha MP Ruhullah Mehdi has criticised the Jammu and Kashmir administration over the handling of the ongoing protest by medical interns demanding an increase in their stipend. Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
Mehdi alleged that principals of government medical colleges were pressuring interns to end their indefinite strike, despite Health Minister Sakina Itoo describing their demand as “genuine” a day earlier.
The MP, who recently announced his resignation from the ruling National Conference, wrote separate letters to Health Minister Sakina Itoo and the principals of medical colleges, seeking an explanation over the alleged pressure on the protesting interns.
In his letter to Itoo, Mehdi questioned what had changed in the government’s approach to the issue.
“Something has changed in the last few days, and I would like to know from you what it is,” he said, pointing out that the dispute had been openly discussed for a week, with the interns putting forward their concerns and the government acknowledging that their demand was genuine.
Mehdi said he had now been informed that principals of medical colleges were warning interns of consequences if they refused to return to duty.
“That is not a change in the government’s position. It is a change in its method,” he said.
The Srinagar MP also sought clarification on whose instructions the principals were allegedly acting upon.
“If it has come from the department, I would like to know who authorised it and on what reasoning,” he said, adding that if the principals were acting independently based on their understanding of the government’s position, that too needed to be addressed.
Mehdi warned that the government’s approach could undermine its earlier assurances.
“A government that has publicly called a demand genuine, and privately set its institutional heads to pressuring the people making it, is speaking in two voices,” he said.
He stressed that the protesting interns were young doctors who had spent years training for the profession and continue to serve in hospitals, including casualty wards.
According to Mehdi, peaceful protest is a constitutional right and does not disappear because the protesters are medical trainees.
“Whatever is being said to them in the corridors of these colleges should stop, and you are the one who can stop it,” he told the health minister.
Mehdi also pointed out that despite assurances from the health minister, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has yet to issue a formal order announcing an enhanced stipend or assuring the protesting interns that no action will be taken against them.
He said the interns were continuing their protest because they had received assurances in the past that had not resulted in a final decision.
“These young doctors have been given assurances before and watched them dissolve. That, and nothing else, is why they are still sitting outside,” he said.
In his separate letter to the principals, Mehdi criticised the alleged warnings issued to interns and urged them to support their students.
“I do not assume this began with you,” he said, while reminding the principals that the protesting interns had entered their institutions as young students and had spent years training under them.
He noted that the interns were seeking a stipend comparable to what is paid to interns elsewhere in the country, describing the demand as one that had already received support from the health minister, the chief minister and a government committee in 2023.
Mehdi reiterated that peaceful protest remained a constitutional right and said the interns did not lose that right simply because they were trainees under the supervision of medical colleges.
He urged the principals to stand with the protesting students and ensure that the government takes a favourable decision on their demand for a revised stipend.
In short: the story’s strongest angle is the alleged contradiction between the government’s public support for the interns’ demand and the reported pressure on them to call off the strike.
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