The simmering issue of proposed renaming of Dyal Singh Evening College in New Delhi after Sikh general Banda Singh Bahadur came to a head today with college staff council members holding a protest outside the principal’s office.The protest led by college staff council president Mithilesh Kumar Singh and secretary Jagbir Singh was joined by senior leaders of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association.After the agitation, Mithilesh Singh told The Tribune that the principal had agreed to discuss the issue with the stakeholders on April 28.“If the authorities still do not call us despite an assurance, we will escalate the matter further. Any renaming of the college or its relocation has to be first discussed with the staff council, which is the primary legal body of the college. In the instant matter, the principal bypassed all procedures and the governing body took the decision to rename the college. We came to know of the move only when Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh in his address on Veer Bal Diwas last year claimed that DU was going to rename Dyal Singh College. We will not allow the legacy of Majithia to be diluted,” Singh said today.The renaming move was recently opposed by a cross-section of people, including former Shiromani Akali Dal MP Naresh Gujral, who had in 2017 thwarted the attempt to call the college “Vande Matram” College.Gujral had flagged the issue in Parliament and obtained an assurance against renaming from then education minister Prakash Javadekar. Several renowned academics had also opposed the renaming plan.A joint statement signed by Prof SS Johl, former Chancellor, Central University of Punjab; Dr Mohinder Singh, former Member, National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions; Lt Gen DDS Sandhu, former Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University; Prof Jaswinder Singh, former VC, Eternal University, HP, and others said it would be inappropriate to violate the terms of the Dyal Singh College Trust deed signed by the University of Delhi and trustees of Dyal Singh Majithia Trust.“Majithia was a visionary who dedicated his life to the cause of knowledge and created legacy institutions like The Tribune and Punjab National Bank,” they said urging the Centre to set up institutions in defence and strategic studies in the name of Banda Singh Bahadur instead.The Staff Association of Dyal Singh Evening College today cited the agreement between Dyal Singh College Trust and DU to say that a name change was not permitted. The association has demanded withdrawal of the renaming proposal passed by the college governing body on December 5, 2025.Mithilesh said the legal agreement was sacred. “A name change can have serious consequences, including bifurcation of the college (there are two colleges Dyal Singh Morning and Evening), establishment of a separate governing body or relocation of the college. We will not allow this,” he said, adding that the staff council will await the April 28 meeting with the principal before finalising the next course of action.