Dyal Singh (Evening) College name change injustice: Harsimrat Kaur to HRD

She also highlighted that some educational institutions established by Majithia, which are now in Pakistan, are run under his name even today.

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Unfortunate that governing body is trying to change the name of college, said Kaur

Joining the protest against the renaming of Dyal Singh (Evening) College to Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya once it is converted to a morning college, Union Minister of Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal Friday said she has written to Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar, highlighting that changing the name would be a “great injustice to the crusader who sacrificed everything for educating people”.

The college is named after Dyal Singh Majithia, who also established the Punjab National Bank and founded The Tribune newspaper. On November 17, the governing body had decided to change the name of the evening college to Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya, once it is converted to a regular one.

This is because a Dyal Singh (Morning) College already exists. The move to change the name has been sent for approval to Delhi University V-C Yogesh Tyagi.

Harsimrat’s party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, is a BJP ally at the Centre. In the letter to Javadekar, she wrote: “It is very unfortunate that the governing body of the college, instead of highlighting his (Majithia’s) achievements, is trying to change the name of Dyal Singh College. It would be a retrograde step to remove the name of such an eminent freedom fighter and social reformer from the college he established.”

She also highlighted that some educational institutions established by Majithia, which are now in Pakistan, are run under his name even today.

“It is my earnest request that his legacy be kept alive and any move to change the name of the college be scuttled,” she wrote, adding, “Appropriate directions may please be issued to the college authorities in this regard.”

The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee has already opposed the move, as have Rajouri Garden MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa and former Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal.

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Sirsa has also filed a police complaint against Dyal Singh (Evening) College principal Pawan Sharma and chairman of the governing body Amitabh Sinha. The complaint alleged that the governing body would be violating the norms of the 1976 transfer deed between the Dyal Singh Trust and the DU if it renames the college.

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