The Uttar Pradesh government has renamed Ghazipur’s Shaheed Veer Abdul Hamid Vidyalaya to Prime Minister Schools for Rising India Composite School Dhamupur, dropping the tribute to the 1965 war veteran Abdul Hamid, reported Amar Ujala on Saturday.

The move, ordered by the state education department, elicited outrage from Hamid’s family and the residents of his native Dhamupur village, who have lodged a complaint with the basic education officer.

Hamid died in the 1965 India-Pakistan war while fighting the Pakistan Army’s Patton tanks in the Battle of Asal Uttar, one of the war’s largest tank confrontations. He was posthumously awarded India’s highest military honour, the Param Vir Chakra, for his bravery.

His grandson, Jameel Alam, claimed that the local community was not consulted about the renaming. He said the move was an insult to Hamid’s legacy.

However, Basic Education Officer Hemant Rao told Amar Ujala that the principal of the school had informed him that the name Shaheed Veer Abdul Hamid Vidyalaya found no mention in its official records. On the other hand, the name “Composite School Dhamupur” has been operational since April 2019.

Rao said he would look into the matter and that it was a “top priority” to honour Hamid.

The Prime Minister Schools for Rising India scheme, better known as PM-SHRI, launched in 2022 with the aim of upgrading approximately 14,500 schools to “model” schools. The cost of the upgradation is to be shared by the Union and the state governments with a 60-40 funding split.

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai said that “changing the name of the school established in the name of the brave Abdul Hamid, who made the ultimate sacrifice for the country, is playing with the nation’s history”.

In a post on X, he added: “What enmity does this government have with great men?”

Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad also condemned the move and said it was “not only reprehensible but also an insult to the supreme sacrifice of a great warrior”.

The Lok Sabha MP from Nagina added that the “act not only harms the honour of the fallen soldiers but also raises questions about our national sentiment and gratitude towards our brave soldiers”.

Aazad sought an apology from the state education department and demanded a reversal of the name.

Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi condemned the decision and urged the state government to preserve the school “as a memorial to his [Hamid’s] memories”.

The Rajya Sabha MP said: “The school’s name should be changed back to Veer Abdul Hamid, and the education department should ensure action against those responsible for repeatedly making such attempts.”

In July, on the occasion of Hamid’s birth anniversary, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat released a book about the war veteran at the Martyr Veer Abdul Hameed Martyr Memorial in Dhamupur, reported The Statesman.

The book, Mere Papa Paramveer (My Father, the Greatest Warrior), was written by Ramachandran Srinivasan based on accounts narrated by Hamid’s son Zainul Hasan.