NEW DELHI: Union Human Resources Development minister Prakash Javadekar has said that “strict” action will be taken against the management committee of a Delhi University college for renaming it despite a direction issued by the government earlier against the move.
The development comes after it emerged that the management of Dyal Singh college had renamed its evening wing as “Vande Matram” college quietly despite government’s displeasure over the proposal.
“It has come to light that Dyal Singh has rechristened its evening wing as Vande Matram which is totally unacceptable. It won’t happen under any circumstances,” said the minister. “As there are two wings of the college, the management can call them A and B or 1 and 2 or simply morning and evening. But the audacity that they have shown deserves strict action and we will soon initiate action against them.”
The statement by the minister comes following a demand by his cabinet colleague and Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal who took to Twitter to express her dismay.
On Wednesday, she tweeted against the college management's decision and said that she had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack Dyal Singh College managment head Amitabh Sinha for going against HRD ministry assurance that the name won’t be changed.
On April 25, sources said, in its annual prize distribution function, the college management had put up banners of the new name which was noticed by many.
Last year, a controversy had erupted after various sections questioned the proposal of renaming the college. The South campus college was named after Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia,a Sikh philanthropist and founder of The Tribune Trust (1881) and Punjab National Bank (1894). He is also credited with setting up Dyal Singh Trust, which in 1910 established the Dyal Singh College in Lahore.
Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar had earlier, while giving an explanation in the Parliament, had said that the renaming of the college was not the Centre’s decision.
“We have asked that the decision be withheld forthwith and an immediate meeting be convened,” he had said, adding that Delhi University, with which the college is affiliated, too had been informed of the Centre’s stand.