FTII students end strike, to continue protest

The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) students on Wednesday decided to call off their 139-day-old strike saying their protest will continue till the issue of appointment of Gajendra Chauhan was resolved.

The students of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) called off their 139-day-long strike on Wednesday, saying they will continue to protest until the government revokes what they termed the “political appointments” of Gajendra Chauhan and four others.

The students said although they have decided to resume classes, their fight against the government will only grow from here on. (HT Photo)

The FTII student association said they have decided to return to academics. “We are returning to academics from today itself. However we will continue to raise issues which we have been raising since 139 days,” said Vikas Urs, representative of the FTII students association.

According to the students, they will continue their protest through art and cinema. “We will call upon artist, academicians and common citizens to take our voice forward,” said Urs.

The students were on strike since June 12 to oppose the appointment of Chauhan, a television actor-turned-politician, as FTII chairman. The students accused Chauhan of lacking “stature” and “vision”.

The students also opposed the appointments of Anagha Ghaisas, Narendra Pathak, Rahul Solapurkar, Shailesh Gupta and Pranjal Saikia, claiming that they are associated with the RSS and its affiliated organisations.

The strike was the longest in FTII’s 50 years of history, which has seen around 40 agitations.

Chauhan welcomed the students’ decision to resume classes. “I am happy that students have called off their strike. I am planning to visit FTII very soon to understand the issues there and work on them as institute chairman,” Chauhan told HT.

When asked to students how would they react to Chauhan taking charge, FTII students representative Rakesh Shukla said, “We have been peaceful in our protest throughout this strike. We will continue being peaceful.”

The students said that during their dialogue with the Information & Broadcasting ministry, it was conveyed to them that the officials there did not have the mandate to revoke appointments made by the government.

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