Dyal Singh College won’t be renamed: Prakash Javadekar

“However, to change the name of a minority institution is a direct assault on the feelings of Sikhs... I feel this is something to be condemned,” SAD leader Naresh Gujral said, demanding that the managing committee be replaced immediately

Dyal Singh College, Dyal Singh College Controversy, Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya, Prakash Javadekar, Education News, Indian Express, Indian Express News

Playing with emotions is wrong, said Prakash Javadekar.

Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar Tuesday informed Rajya Sabha that the decision to change the name of Dyal Singh (Evening) College has been put on hold. He also stressed that it was not a government decision. The Governing Body (GB) of Dyal Singh College (DSC) had, in a meeting on November 17, decided that Dyal Singh (Evening) College would be called ‘Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya’ once it is converted to a morning college.

The rationale was that since Dyal Singh (Morning) College already exists, Dyal Singh (Evening) College — set up in 1958 and the first evening college in Delhi University — will have to be renamed. Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) member Naresh Gujral said the managing committee of DSC had “unfortunately” decided to rename the Evening College. Gujral admitted that the words ‘Vande Mataram’ evoked patriotism among citizens, and suggested that the government could set up Vande Mataram universities across the country.

“However, to change the name of a minority institution is a direct assault on the feelings of Sikhs… I feel this is something to be condemned,” the SAD leader said, demanding that the managing committee be replaced immediately. The college is named after Dyal Singh Majithia, who founded the The Tribune newspaper in 1881 and the Punjab National Bank in 1894. The college website says Majithia also set up an education trust in 1895 for a ‘truly secular college’, and DSC was born out of that trust.

The college was earlier considering the name, ‘Madan Mohan Malviya College’, before it settled on ‘Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya’. At the time, Chairman of the Governing Body, Amitabh Sinha, a BJP leader and a lawyer, had said, “Woh (Malviya) kiske bachche the? Hum unhi ko pranaam kar rahe hain. Maa ka darza sabse upar hota hai aur unhe pranaam karna hai. (Whose child was Malviya? We are paying respect to her. The stature of the mother is above all else). Vande Mataram means to pay obeisance to the mother. There is no politics in the name.”

On Tuesday, Gujral said that Majithia had sacrificed his life and possessions to improve the state of education in the country. He had set up several schools and colleges, including one in Lahore, Gujral said. Responding to the issue, Javadekar said the name change decision was not taken by the Centre. “It’s not the government’s decision and the government does not like it. That is why we have asked that it be withheld forthwith and an immediate meeting be convened… Such a thing will not happen,” the minister said, adding that DU has been informed of the same. “Creating unnecessary controversies by playing with emotions is wrong,”Javadekar said.