Move to rename Delhi college triggers row

Syed Ali Ahmed

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 18 

The move to rename Dyal Singh (evening) College, spread over 9 acres in the heart of South Delhi, as Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya has taken political contours with student groups, NSUI being one of them, alleging that the decision was politically motivated.

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The college governing body maintains that the name has been changed in the “interest of students”. But a section of students and teachers remains unconvinced, pointing out that the chairman of the college governing body, Amitabh Sinha, is associated with the BJP.  

The notification to change the college name, issued on Friday, has been sent to the VC for approval. The college is named after Dyal Singh Majithia, who founded The Tribune Trust (1881) and the Punjab National Bank (1894). He also set up an education trust. Dyal Singh College was born out of that trust. The college was established at Lahore in 1910. 

After Partition, it was shifted to Karnal and then to Delhi as a constituent college of the University of Delhi (1959). 

It was taken over as a “university maintained” institution in 1978. The Dyal Singh College building in Lahore still stands in the name of Government Dyal Singh College.

While the teachers protesting against the decision say the college lacks the infrastructure to function as a regular college, the students see it as “part of the BJP agenda to saffronise education”.

Denying the allegations, Sinha said: “Given the responsibility of the college governing body by the VC of Delhi University, I am only doing my duty. There were two colleges — one day and the other evening. The evening shift students were rated as second-grade students. They faced difficulty in getting jobs. That’s why the governing body converted it into a day college.” 

College principal Pawan Kumar Sharma said they had already built 28 more rooms even though only 22 were needed. “So there is no question of lack of infrastructure.”