New Delhi: After massive outrage over renaming of a government school named after 1965 war hero and Param Veer Chakra recipient Abdul Hamid, the Yogi-Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to reverse its decision and reinstate Hamid’s name in a board at the school’s entrance.
Earlier, the family of Abdul Hamid, who was awarded the Param Veer Chakra posthumously for his valour in the 1965 India-Pakistan war, had alleged that the Uttar Pradesh government has renamed a school that was named after the war hero.
Hamid’s grandson Jameel Alam said that the school at Dhamupur in Ghazipur district where Hamid studied was recently renamed from the Amar Shaheed Abdul Hamid Vidyalaya to the PM Sri Composite Vidyalaya, reported The Telegraph.
“The school was known as the Amar Shaheed Abdul Hamid Vidyalaya till recently. My grandfather had studied there till Class V. This name was inscribed on a board put up there. But one morning last week, we saw a new name written there,” said Alam.
He added that he has lodged a protest with education department officials and expressed his hope that they will correct the mistake.
Hemant Rao, the basic education officer of Ghazipur had earlier said that there are no records of the school being named after the war hero. However, after the public outrage, Rao promised that Hamid’s name at the school’s entrance will be reinstated immediately, reported The Hindu.
Hamid, who was posted with the 4th Battalion of the Grenadiers Regiment, destroyed eight Pakistani tanks on September 9-10, 1965 and died while trying to destroy a ninth tank. He was posthumously awarded the Param Veer Chakra, India’s highest gallantry award.
In recent years, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has renamed several places, particularly those bearing Muslim names. In November 2023, the Aligarh Municipal Corporation on Sunday (November 5) passed a resolution to rename Aligarh as Harigarh.
In 2018, Allahabad was renamed as Prayagraj at a cost of over Rs 300 crore and the 156-year-old Mughalsarai junction was renamed as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya junction. In 2021, Faizabad was renamed as Ayodhya district.
