Dyal Singh College renamed Vande Mataram to clear confusion, says governing body head

Delhi University’s Dyal Singh College (Evening), which since the past few months has been functioning as a day college, has decided to rename itself as Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya.

Amitabh Sinha, Chairperson of governing body of Dyal Singh College, said on Saturday that the decision was taken to overcome the confusion in the name.

A notification to change the name was issued on November 17 and has been sent to the Vice Chancellor for his approval. The issue became controversial after the Congress party’ students wing, NSUI, questioned the decision and accused the governing body of “disgracing the legacy” of Punjab’s first freedom fighter - Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia.

“There were two colleges in Dyal Singh College. One was day and other was evening. The evening shift students were rated as second grade students. They used to face difficulties even while seeking jobs. That’s why the governing body converted it into a day college,” Sinha told IANS.

“After it was converted into a day college, there was confusion among the students over the name and to overcome the confusion it was decided to change the name of the college,” he said.

Sinha said that he, himself, proposed the name Vande Mataram, which was unanimously adopted by the governing body.

“They (governing body members) hailed the decision, saying there can’t be a better name than this,” he said.

Asked about controversy being created by NSUI over the issue, he said, “I am not bothered about the controversy and the opposition. You cannot please all the people all the time.”

He said that “No one should have objection to the name Vande Mataram as it associates us with our mother”.

Dyal Singh (Evening) College was given a nod by the Delhi University (DU) Executive Council (EC) to be converted into a morning college in July, leading to protests by the faculty of the morning college. The evening college began holding morning classes for first year students from July 20, till the time it is able to operate as a full-fledged morning college. Students and teachers from the original morning college protested the decision citing space crunch which the ‘merger’ had occasioned.

Currently, the colleges are sharing a campus space of eight acres.