The Uttar Pradesh government has restored the name of Abdul Hamid, the Param Vir Chakra awardee who destroyed eight Pakistani tanks during the 1965 war, to a school in Ghazipur district after his family protested and there was a widespread backlash.

However, there is a twist — the government has dovetailed the new name to the old name. So now the school is named the Shaheed Veer Abdul Hamid PM Sri Composite Vidyalaya, Dhamupur. If you cannot spell it out in one breath, there are small mercies — the painter who wrote the name on the school building on Tuesday morning has kept “Shaheed Veer Abdul Hamid” in large letters and “PM Sri Composite Vidyalaya” in a smaller font.

Hamid’s grandson Jameel Alam had alleged on Monday that the name of the school had been changed from the Amar Shaheed Abdul Hamid Vidyalaya to the PM Sri Composite Vidyalaya. Hamid had studied at the school.

Hemant Rao, basic education officer of Ghazipur, had said he had “cross-checked with the school management” and had been told that “there are no records of the school ever being known after the war hero”.

“However, we have received several complaints about the change of name and are probing it. We can never undermine the sacrifice of Abdul Hamid,” Rao had added.

Alam said on Tuesday that he was still not happy.

“Earlier, the name Amar Shaheed Abdul Hamid Vidyalaya was written on a board and on the boundary wall. It was changed last week to the PM Sri Composite Vidyalaya. Now the name of the school is the Shaheed Veer Abdul Hamid PM Sri Composite Vidyalaya. But they must write the war hero’s name on a board and on the gate of the school too,” he said.

Ajay Kushwaha, the headmaster of the school, told reporters: “We never changed the name of the school. Infact, some cleaning and painting work was going on. This created confusion and thefamily members of the war hero reacted to it. We stand corrected.”

Alam said: “I got a phone call in the morning that the school has again written the name of the war hero on its wall. We thank the education department of the state government for taking note of our complaint, but his name should also be there on a board and the gate of the school as soon as possible. This school, or even Dhamupur, is known because of the bravery of Abdul Hamid and he cannot be detached from this memory.”