Last week, the National Medical Commission (NMC) withdrew permission previously granted to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence in Jammu, to admit students into a medical programme. https://thewire.in/communalism/the-quasi-official-state-of-apartheid-in-todays-india
This conflict offers yet another example of a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly commonplace in India today – where dominant sentiments are appeased by weaponising and deploying seemingly neutral administrative provisions and institutions against Muslims. As in the case of “bulldozer justice”, we are reminded that the creation of apartheid-like conditions in India does not necessarily require the enactment of discriminatory laws. When state institutions participate in the appeasement of dominant sentiments, a quasi-official state of apartheid can be created without apartheid laws.
This is because an individual in India typically experiences the law at two levels. First, they experience the formal sovereign system contained in the written law of the land, and second, they experience a non-formal system, derived from caste, where the norms enforced are those dictated by the local dominant group.
by Sarayu Pani
13/01/2026