Television actor Gajendra Chauhan will face a stiff resistance from students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), when he formally takes charge as the FTII’s governing council chairman and presides over the first board meeting on Thursday.
A day ahead of the meeting of FTII’s Chauhan-headed governing council comprising among others Anagha Ghaisas, Narendra Pathak, Rahul Solapurkar and Shailesh Gupta as its members in Pune, the FTII Students’ Association (FSA) indicated that it would stage a protest against the “undue appointments” made by the Centre.
“Tomorrow (January 7), the newly appointed society meeting is going to happen in the FTII Campus. As we stated earlier, we still have problem with these appointments and will continue to resist it unless the concerned authorities put the society in abeyance and set a process for the further appointments, since it is the question of our academics,” the FSA said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Higher Education in the country should be free from all sort of political interference. So the undue appointments of people like Gajendra Chauhan, Anagha Ghaisas, Narendra Pathak, Rahul Solapurkar and Shailesh Gupta will continue to be resisted. Pahlaj Nihalani’s presence in the society for holding an unjust position in CBFC is also unacceptable,” the FSA stated.
On his part, Chauhan said ahead of his visit to Pune to take charge as FTII’s GC chairman and chair the first meeting: “I have been ordered by the government, and I will do my job. let me go there and see. I can’t comment on what they will do, but I am ready to do my job”.
Chauhan is visiting the Pune-based FTII for the first time after his appointment as the chairman of the FTII’s governing council on June 9, 2015.