The FTII students’ union on Wednesday accused the Government of resorting to various coercive measures, including character assassination of students, in order to dilute their demand for removal of actor Gajendra Chauhan as head of the Institute. The strike of the students entered its 55th day on Wednesday.
The students reaffirmed their demand on composition of the council of film institute saying it should have members who are filmmakers, academicians and members of bureaucracy and that norms for appointment should be transparent.
The president of FTII students union, Harishankar Nachimuthu, in a Press conference here, said they were being treated as left-overs and had been called anti-nationals. He said they would continue the stir till their demands were met. It is extremely disheartening to see that a Government-run institute is being questioned by the Government itself and students are being character assassinated left, right and centre, he said.
Regarding the recent visit of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to the institute, Nachimuthu said students had written to various MPs and clarified that they would welcome the State Information & Broadcasting Minister, Rajyavardan Rathore, too if he tried to resolve their issues.
They said that while they kept reading media reports about the Government being open for a dialogue, no one had actually approached them, despite repeated letters from their side.