Advised to pass my term quietly, not an option for me: Thampu

St Stephen's principal Valson Thampu has claimed the college has been subjected to a "death dance" and "blackmail" and that he has been advised by his friends to pass his term quietly, which is not an option for him.
Thampu has been quite vocal in his allegations about the college being subjected to a "harassment" by certain alumni and teachers.
His 8-year tenure as principal of the college, full of controversies with repeated demands for his removal, ends in February 2016.
"Some of my friends have advised me to sit my term out in taciturnity and to exit, awash in goodwill. I must tell them that is not an option for me...The time has come for us to say no, I will not take it anymore, and I am doing that," he said on his Facebook page.

Reiterating that the controversies surrounding St Stephen's have been "constructed" and "improvised", Thampu said,"scores of controversies have been thrown at the college in the last 8 years. Has any among them amounted to anything? Was there an iota of truth in any of them? Controversy after controversy was invented and hurled at St Stephen's.
"As soon one controversy lost its sheen, a new one was improvised. It was a collaborative enterprise between a few depraved elements among the alumni to fleeting, mutual benefit," he said.

The principal has also asserted that those leveling allegations should be held accountable.
"Those who claim the right to make a song and dance in the public space must be held accountable. They must answer. This one-way traffic of aggression against those presumed unequals must stop.

"The death dance unleashed on St Stephen's presumes inequality and on top of it the irony of the blackmail that the college will be dragged to the Parliament," he said.
Last week, prominent alumni including Arjuna awardee Raja Randhir Singh, former Congress MP Sandip Dikshit, BJD MP Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo and Congress leader Sharmishtha Mukherjee, had come out against Thampu's move to push for amendment to the college's 102-year-old constitution for empowering the principal and the Church of North India (CNI).
Former test cricketer and an alumnus Kirti Azad had described the present situation at his alma mater as "disgusting" and said the issue will be raised in Parliament by the MPs who are alumni of the college.

The alumni have often raised demands for Thampu's removal amid controversies over allegations of forced conversion of an administrative officer to Christianity, alleged fake degree used for his appointment, banning of e-zine for not seeking permission on content and shielding a professor accused of sexual harassment of a research scholar, that have rocked the college from time to time.