THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Prof V.B. Abrol-
Former Professor and Head Department of English,
Dyal Singh College, Karnal
In their despicable attempt to damage the cherished memory of Dyal Singh Majithia, a great son of United Punjab, some influential opportunist elements have renewed their once failed attempt to rename Dyal Singh College (Evening) affiliated to Delhi University.
It is well known that the fabulously rich Dyal Singh, unfortunate in not having any children, created three trusts out of his immense wealth : the Tribune Trust, Dyal Singh Library Trust and Dyal Singh College Trust. In creating these trusts he showed that he had the vision to foresee that in the times to come knowledge, not physical might, would be the power to reckon with. To ensure that his beloved Mother India would enjoy a prominent respectable place internationally, he created instruments of learning that would perpetually renew themselves to supply the recurring needs of the Nation.
One feels extremely pained that while this true worth of Dyal Singh’s Will is appreciated, preserved and perpetuated in the country that we love to hate, we, on this side of the unfortunate Radcliffe Divide, are hell bent on destroying it.
Lahore still retains Dyal Singh College and Dyal Singh Library besides Dyal Singh Mansion, the hub of commercial activity in the heart of the old city. The only change made in the name of the College is the addition of the prefix Govt. It was added because the Trust having ceased to exist, the College is now run by the government. Dyal Singh College in Karnal, housed in the kothi of Pakistan ‘s first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan, traces its lineage from the establishment of the College in Lahore. When the college in Karnal celebrated its Diamond Jubilee, the Principal of the college in Lahore was also invited. He graciously sent his congratulations while expressing his inability to join the celebrations because of visa problem. However, he apprised the principal of the college in Karnal of the well-being of the college in Lahore. He wrote that Gen. Zia, as President of Pakistan, was invited to the college for a function. While taking a round of the college, he was upset to see the dilapidated condition of the Chemistry department labs. He immediately announced a special grant of Rs 25 lakhs to update the labs. Mind you, that was big money those days.
During Mian Nawaz Sharief’s first tenure as Prime Minister of Pakistan, Col Pratap Singh led a group of eminent persons from Punjab to Pakistan. When Prime Minister Sharief came to know of this he invited the visitors to spend time with him at his farmhouse near Lahore. The guests received warm hospitality from the host who took time off from his busy schedule to be with them. The visitors included Prabhjot Singh, a senior journalist In The Tribune at Chandigarh. Prabhjot made bold to request the host Prime Minister for a particular favour. The Prime Minister asked him what it was. The journalist requested that he be allowed to take the statue of Dyal Singh he had seen in Lahore to India. It would be prominently displayed In The Tribune office in Chandigarh. The host Prime Minister became emotional as he replied that the honoured guest was welcome to take away anything else but he would not part with the cherished memory of the stalwart Dayal Singh.
In the light of these anecdotes about Majithia and Lahore, one feels all the more that the memory of the great philanthropist is sought to be erased in his own country. What is worse is that the governing body of the college in Delhi has passed a resolution to rename it after Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. The perpetraterators of this move might have thought it a master stroke to pit two great historical figures against each other to silence those opposed to the change in name. Their perceived master stroke is an even greater act of sacrilege. What can be more disrespectful to the sacred memory of the great Baba who was martyred by the Mughals for his relentess campaign against the brutal Shahadat of the Sahibzaadas of the Sikh Guru Govind Singh?
Banda Singh Bahadur’s memory needs to be perpetuated not by this mischievous token change of the name.
