Union Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal has criticised the move to rename Dyal Singh Evening College in Delhi as Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya, calling it “unacceptable and shocking”.

The college is named after Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, one of the best-known philanthropists and educationists in the country in the 19th century. The name was suggested at a meeting on November 17 by the college governing body’s chairperson, Amitabh Sinha – a lawyer and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“How can you take away the legacy of someone else?” Harsimrat Kaur Badal told ANI. “The person who is so keen to change the name, must change his own name. He can put all his wealth to create something and give it whatever name he wants.”

Sinha on Friday said that the decision to rename the college was unanimous of the whole governing body, The Tribune reported. “There is nothing legally or ethically wrong about it... [There] couldn’t be a better name than Vande Mataram,” he added.

Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in the matter, The Times of India reported. “The move is not only mischievous because it seeks to create quite an unnecessary controversy around the sacred expression of Vande Mataram but carries the potential to blow up into a major controversy and conflict in the country,” Sukhbir Singh Badal wrote in a letter to Modi.

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

The move to rechristen the institution has elicited mixed feelings among teachers and students of the day college. While some said that it contradicts Majithia’s secular legacy, others said the administration should look to address 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.