The decision to rename Delhi’s Dyal Singh Evening College as Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya has been put on hold, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. He said the government was neither involved in the controversial decision, nor did it approve of it, PTI reported.

The college is named after Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, one of India’s best-known philanthropists and educationists in the 19th century. The college governing body’s Chairperson Amitabh Sinha – a lawyer and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party – had suggested the new name for the institute’s evening shift, at a meeting on November 17.

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On Tuesday, MP Naresh Gujral of the Shiromani Akali Dal raised the subject in the Rajya Sabha. He said the government could set up Vande Mataram universities all over the country, but “to change the name of a minority institute is a direct assault on the feelings of Sikhs”.

He also demanded that the college’s managing committee be replaced immediately.

“It is not the government’s decision, and the government does not like it,” Javadekar said in response. “That’s why, we have asked that the decision be withheld forthwith and an immediate meeting be convened.”

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The evening college, founded in 1958, has long shared its campus with Dyal Singh College, which was founded the next year. Both institutes share the same governing body and college buildings but have separate teaching and administrative staff.

The move to rechristen the institute elicited mixed feelings among teachers and students of the day college. While some said it contradicts Majithia’s secular legacy, others said the administration should look to address more pressing problems, such as the lack of infrastructure that makes it difficult for two colleges to function from the 11-acre campus at the same time.

Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal had sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in the matter.