FTII protesters call off their 18-day-old hunger strike

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, September 28, 2015: Hoping to end the nearly three-month-old strike by students at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune against the appointment of TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as its chairman, the government has invited the protesting students for talks on September 29 in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, the agitating students today called off their 18-day-old hunger strike in response to the information and broadcasting ministry’s letter fixing the meeting date.

The September 29 meeting comes a week after the government, through a letter, told students that it was willing to discuss all issues. The government had been keeping a close watch on the FTII students who are on a hunger strike to demand the removal of chairman Gajendra Chauhan since September 10.

The meeting in Mumbai between students’ representatives and officials is expected to help the government find ways to peacefully end the controversy, said the sources.

Earlier, there had been several backchannel negotiations between government representatives and the students, after which sources alleged that a section of the students was determined to continue the strike for political reasons.

Sources also claimed that government representatives had offered a dilution of Chauhan’s role and appointment of fresh neutral faces in the governing council, but this had cut no ice with the protesting students.

The students have been boycotting their classes since June when Chauhan was made chairman of the FTII governing council. Besides Chauhan, who got the post simply because he played "Yudhisthira" in the popular TV serial Mahabharat, the students are also demanding removal of a few members of the governing council who they allege are supported by the RSS, the ideological mentor of the ruling BJP.

A few weeks ago, the government had sent a three member expert committee headed by Registrar of Newspapers S M Khan which had met all the stake holders in FTII Pune.

The panel’s visit had come after five students were arrested after a group gheraoed director Prashant Pathrabe over the assessment of the 2008 batch which is yet to complete its course.

The FTII has been caught in the cross fire between the government and the Congress with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi lending his support to the striking students. Rahul had blamed the RSS for the appointments.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore, in turn, had accused Rahul of giving the strike a political colour. The government said it is committed to improving the academic and financial management of the institute and has plans to develop FTII Pune as a centre of excellence on the lines of IITs and IIMs.

 

Courtesy: Indiatoday