Dyal Singh Majithia and his legacy

Rajesh Kochhar
Honorary Professor, Panjab University 

The move by the members of the Dyal Singh Trust to delete his name from the Delhi college named after him is perverse, immoral and unethical. It may not even be able to withstand close judicial scrutiny. 

The move insults the memory of the most notable Punjabi of his time. Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia's enduring legacy is the founding in 1881 of The Tribune, which has remained a well-respected and influential newspaper of the Punjab region. It is no coincidence that the paper is a year older than the University of the Punjab, Lahore; the paper was set up to successfully advocate the cause of the new university as a modern institution.

Majithia, the philanthropist

Extremely wealthy through landed inheritance and his own commercial enterprise, Dyal Singh devoted his entire wealth and life to public cause. He vested most of his immovable and movable property in three public trusts, one for the already functional The Tribune, and the other two for a proposed college and public library at Lahore. Dyal Singh Library began in 1908 as a free reading room while Dyal Singh College came into existence in 1910. It goes to the credit of the Pakistan Government that it has retained Dyal Singh's name in the two institutions, even though the trust assets left behind were taken over by the Pakistan Evacuee Trust Property Board.

College’s revival after Partition

In 1947, all members of the Trust migrated to India. The task of the activation of the Trust in India fell on its leading member Dewan Anand Kumar. He had been a reader in the zoology department of the University in Lahore and served the newly founded Panjab University as its Vice-Chancellor during 1949-1957. One of the first tasks of the university was to provide for the education of refugees from West Punjab who had now made Delhi their home. In March, 1948, it opened a Camp College in Delhi which conducted classes from 4.30 pm to 9 pm and ran a hostel in 150 canvas tents presented by the Central Ministry of Rehabilitation. The extraordinariness of the situation can be gauged from the fact that as a special case, Panjab University was permitted to operate from within the jurisdiction of another university, namely the Delhi University. 

In 1956 it was decided that Camp College would “cater to the requirements of bona fide employees only, irrespective of whether they were displaced persons or not.” Through force of circumstances, Panjab University became a pioneer in evening studies in India. Following suit, Delhi and other universities also opened evening colleges. 

Camp College by its very nature was a temporary affair. When the question of its future came up, the Dyal Singh Trust stepped in with an offer. Camp College was handed over to the Dyal Singh College Trust on March 31, 1959. The trust in turn handed over the college to Delhi University in 1978.

First evening college

By virtue of being the country's first evening college, Dyal Singh College, Delhi, occupies a unique place in India's education history. With its roots going back to temporary arrangements made for the education of Punjabi refugees, it remains a living testimonial to their grit.  The facts that the landed estates in East Punjab were eventually used to fund a college in Delhi and that Dyal Singh's memory is preserved across the Radcliffe Line constitute a fascinating part of Punjab's and Delhi's history to which Delhi must show sensitivity. 

The Dyal Singh College governing body should not view the college as a mere piece of valuable real estate but must take an extended view of things. The decision to delink Dyal Singh's name from the evening college constitutes historical vandalism and must be rescinded immediately.

College chronology

• Dyal Singh College came into existence in 1910 in Lahore.
• On March 31, 1959, the Dyal Singh College Trust took over the Camp College that had been set up by Panjab University in Delhi in 1948 for families displaced by the Partition
• The trust handed over the college to Delhi University in 1978.
• On November 19, 2017, Dyal Singh College was renamed Vande Mataram College.