FTII row: Govt trying to dilute issue, resorting to character assassination, say students

Agitating students of FTII on Wednesday accused the government of resorting to all kinds of measures, including "character assassination" of students, in order to dilute their demand for removal of actor Gajendra Chauhan as head of the Institute, instead of addressing the real issues.

Addressing a press conference in Pune, a group of students said they were being treated as "left-overs" and had been called "anti-nationals" and even "anti-Hindus" and said they would continue the stir, which entered the 55th day today, with the "limited resources and energy" they have.

"It is extremely disheartening to see that a government run institute is being questioned by the government itself and students are being character asassinated left, right and centre," FTII students association president Harishankar Nachimuthu said.

An "RSS mouthpiece" has even said the students were mentally challenged, he claimed.

"People who are associated with government in various ways have resorted to these means to question the students and by not answering the fundamental question, they are trying to divert the attention to something else," Nachimuthu added.

The students also took strong exception to remarks by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore in in Rajya Sabha, where he had mentioned about reported incidents of faculty or employees being threatened, late-night parties, theft of valuable equipment, damage to properties by students.

"Is this the argument government is giving in its defence to the questions parliamentarians are raising?" Nachimuthu asked. Wondering if this was the way government looks at "trivial" matters, the FTII students association president asked, "Isn't Parliament the right platform to debate larger issues such as questions regarding the needs of institute and how it should shape up in future?"

When asked if Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's visit to the institute had politicised the matter, Nachimuthu said students had written to various MPs and clarified that they would welcome Rathore too if he were to visit the campus to try and resolve their issues.

They said that while they kept reading media reports about government being open for a dialogue, no one had actually approached them, despite repeated letters from their side.

When asked as to how long they would continue their agitation if the government did not remove Chauhan, a student Vikas said while they have "limited resources and energy" they would still stick to their demands.