DU to name two upcoming colleges after Veer Savarkar, Sushma Swaraj

During an executive council meeting on Friday, the VC declared that the names of Swaraj and Savarkar had been finalised for consideration from among the other names in the fray

New Delhi: The Delhi University vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh has selected the names of Veer Savarkar and late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj for two upcoming colleges of the university.

The idea of naming upcoming colleges was first floated in an academic council meeting in August (Amal KS/HT Archive)

During an executive council meeting on Friday, the VC declared that the names of Swaraj and Savarkar had been finalised for consideration from among the other names in the fray.

Seema Das, an executive council member, said that the EC had been informed about a pool of names in the previous meeting. “The VC was supposed to finalise some names from the pool. During the meeting on Friday, when a member sought an update on the development, we were told that these two names were finalised,” said Das.

The idea of naming upcoming colleges was first floated in an academic council meeting in August.

Rajpal Singh Pawar, another EC member who was present at Friday’s meeting, said that he was among a few who raised objections to point out that the shortlisted names were of people associated with a particular ideology. “In the last meeting, we had asked them to add more names. We had pointed out that none of the two names had any connection with the field of education. We suggested that they could give other names such as that of APJ Abdul Kalam. The VC was authorised to make the selection,” said Pawar.

AK Bhagi, former EC member and president of National Democratic Teachers’ Front (NDTF), a right-wing teachers’ group, said that plans for naming upcoming colleges after Swaraj and Savarkar were finalised in August itself. He said that while the university had passed the proposal, a government approval was awaited. “A proposal with the two finalised names has been sent to the government and approval is awaited. The land for the upcoming colleges has been identified and necessary approvals are awaited,” said Bhagi.