Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal today sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the issue of the renaming of Dyal Singh College in Delhi as Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya. The former deputy chief minister, in a letter to the prime minister, alleged that the renaming of the college was an "attempt to create communal disharmony by some mischievous elements". 

"The entirely needless and dangerous controversy over the renaming of the Dyal Singh College, named after nation builder Dyal Singh Majitha, will only bring a bad name to the democratic and secular society," Badal alleged. He claimed there were countless institutions being run in the name of leaders such as Sardar Bhagat Singh and Mahatma Gandhi but no one would think of replacing these names with 'Vande Mataram'. 

"It will be hard to understand the rationale or the mindset behind such move", he said. Badal said Dyal Singh was a great philanthropist and patriot who had willed his estate in 1895 for the establishment of an educational trust. The Dyal Singh College was established at Lahore in 1910. After Partition, Dyal Singh College was established in Karnal and Delhi. Sukhbir said all the records of the college were in the name of Dyal Singh Trust. 

He said as per the transfer deed between Dyal Singh College Trust Society and Delhi University in 1978, it was decided that the institution would continue under the same name after its takeover by the university. "The decision of the Governing Body to change the name from Dyal Singh College to Vande Mataram Vidyalaya is thus a breach of this clause," he alleged. 

The SAD chief said an unnecessary controversy was being created around the sacred expression of 'Vande Mataram' and it had the potential to "blow up into a major controversy and conflict" in the country. He said the expression evoked spontaneous emotional patriotic fervor in the mind of every Indian and it must be kept beyond petty political controversies.