‘Will not allow renaming of college’

Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday said that the Ministry will not allow Dyal Singh College (Evening) to be renamed and will take action against its management committee for doing so without consent.

“We had asked them earlier to reconsider the move. We will not allow the college to be renamed. If there are two Dyal Singh colleges, they can call them A and B to differentiate but the original name cannot be changed,” said Mr. Javadekar.

The Minister was reacting to protests by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee general secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

The DSGMC said that the Sikh community was shocked after a banner used in the recent annual day function of the college had the name ‘Vande Matram Dyal Singh College’.

“The Ministry will take action against the college management committee for going ahead with the renaming despite me making a statement in Parliament that it cannot be done,” said Mr. Javadekar.

Union Food Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal took up the issue with PM Narendra Modi after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

“Have requested PM @narendramodi ji to sack Dayal Singh College mgmt head Amitabh Sinha for going against HRD min. assurance that name of Dayal Singh College won’t be changed. I briefed him that Sinha’s mischievous conduct had hurt Sikh sentiments & am hopeful of corrective action [sic],” she tweeted. Ms. Badal also asked for action to be taken against DU V-C Yogesh Tyagi.

The DU Registrar clarified that the name of Dyal Singh College (Evening) has not been changed.