The Hindu : Front Page : It's ceasefire and smiles now at St. Stephen's

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Friday, Sep 09, 2005

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It's ceasefire and smiles now at St. Stephen's

Lakshmi B. Ghosh

IT'S A CEASEFIRE: The St. Stephen's Principal, Anil Wilson (left) and the Chairman, Bishop Karam Masih (right) share sweets and smiles at the College on Thursday. — PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

NEW DELHI: It was a dramatic end all right, but one that saw Delhi University's premier St. Stephen's College finally flash the white flag to announce a ceasefire between the Principal, Anil Wilson and the Chairman of the College Supreme Council, Bishop Karam Masih.

From public criticism over this past week to open adulation now, the scene at the college was much different on Thursday afternoon as Dr. Wilson and Rev. Masih announced that there were no issues between them and that Dr. Wilson had withdrawn the resignation tendered by him last fortnight.

While the college went into celebration mode, there were also murmurs of disapproval all round with many teachers accusing Dr. Wilson of trying to communalise an internal matter for personal gains.

In a joint statement issued by the two, Rev. Masih made a Biblical reference to say, "We must forgive each other and pray for those who create divisions,'' adding: "I have only one pain. The Christian character must be protected and maintained and minority rights protected.''

The Bishop appreciated Dr. Wilson's "stand on the principles that he holds dear and also his efforts to uphold the minority character of St. Stephen's as a Christian college of the Church of North India".

"The Chairman of St. Stephen's College unequivocally affirms and upholds the moral and ethical domain of Principal Dr. Anil Wilson. Further, he does not want this domain to be violated in any manner, particularly in the matter of admissions, where it is acknowledged that the Principal has made strenuous efforts to keep the process fair and above board. Any effort in the past from any quarter that might be construed as an infringement on this domain is regretted,'' the statement affirmed.

It was apparently the Chairman who took the initiative to put an end to the tussle between the two by calling Dr. Wilson on Thursday morning and asking him to come home and pray with him.

With Dr. Wilson deciding to do so and the two finally talking about the issue in the afternoon, the matter was finally resolved.

Interestingly enough, the joint statement as well as the college community at large eventually felt that the matter had been blown out of proportion by certain quarters that tried to generate non-existent controversies.

And while most were happy about the issue being resolved, doubts over the real reasons that led to the reconciliation loomed large too.

"The college community really stood together through the crisis and that is probably what helped us eventually get over the problem. There were people who were blowing this out of proportion, but even the Class III and IV karamcharis here knew who to believe and what to take seriously. We are hoping that this incident will bring us closer instead of dividing us again,'' said Vice-Principal Jacob Cherian.

But there were those who felt that the college administration had communalised the entire issue.

"In our many years of existence we have never seen this kind of divide in the college. The last couple of weeks suddenly communalised the entire atmosphere. Also, the administration has to be answerable to the students and teachers. There are financial irregularities happening in the college that need to be answered,'' said a teacher.

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