Privatisation: FTII Students Bring Out the Elephant in the Room During Rahul Gandhi's Visit

MUMBAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party led government’s obduracy on removing “mediocre” artist Gajendra Chauhan as the head of India’s prestigious Film and Television Institute in Pune was given a serious knock when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met the striking students for an intense and long discussion. In the process the elephant in the room, namely the suspected follow-up move by the government to privatise FTII was laid on the table by the students who asked for, and got an assurance, from Rahul Gandhi that he would not support any such initiative.

The FTII students who have persevered with their strike for the removal of Chauhan who is also a member of the BJP are now planning to take their protest before Parliament, to tie up with other institutes facing what one of them described as “rampant politicisation” of a similar kind under the present government. The strike in Pune entered its 50th day. The students have met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who reportedly agreed that Chauhan might not have been the best candidate, but refused to change him maintaining that the students should learn to adjust.

Rahul Gandhi assured the students that he was not supportive of privatisation, as the institute, like the government run IIT’s had reached a level of excellence that only needed to be scaled up. He said, to loud applause, that if there was any such move by the Modi government he would join the students in their strike. The students pointed out that privatisation would hike the currently subsidised fees, and place FTII out of the reach of lower income aspirers.

The BJP workers held protests against the Congress leader in Pune, but his visit boosted morale and gave new impetus to the students determined to resist the new appointments. Apart from Chauhan, the government has brought in four ‘persons of eminence’ amongst the eight who have been RSS, ABVP, BJP workers in different capacities.

There has been widespread concern about the central government’s attempt to, as filmmaker Anand Patwardhan put it, “saffronise” FTII. Several filmmakers and actors have come out in support of the students with the list including Shyam Benegal, Patwardhan, Ranbir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Kiran Rao, Amol Patekar and others. BJP leader and actor Shatrughan Sinha had offered to mediate between the students and the government, but to no avail.

The government has taken the classic ‘either my way or the highway’ approach and after the one meeting has been ignoring the striking students in the belief that the protest will die down. Rahul Gandhi’s visit thus, has been strongly opposed by the BJP and its supporting media as an attempt to ‘politicise’ the issue. As students asked: what about the politicisation of the institute with these appointments?

Rahul Gandhi was clear in pointing that while one of the issues was of mediocrity, the other was linked to the larger attempts by the government to saffronise and politicise culture and education through such appointments in institutions. He said that the students should be prepared to extend their struggle for the larger cause as well, maintaining that both were inextricably linked. He said that the RSS was promoting mediocrity across the board. He criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, maintaining that he was the sole person determining all that happened in government.

The strange confrontationist approach that has marked the attitude of the BJP to all forms of dissent was on display again during Rahul Gandhi’s visit. And earlier, with no effort being made by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting or the government at any level to open the channels of dialogue with the students. It has been a ‘us versus them’ approach by the BJP evident in the allegations being hurled at the students by RSS publications of being “Congress agents” and “anti Hindu”, accusations reserved for all dissent. Paresh Rawal attacked both the students and the Congress leader asking “do they (students) see a Satyajit Ray in Rahul Gandhi’ in sarcasm that has not gone down well with the film community.

The struggle, as both the students and the filmmakers and actors supporting them have pointed out, is to ensure that the government is not allowed to bring down the Institute by bringing in mediocrity through political appointments. The students have asked Rahul Gandhi to raise the issue in Parliament in what is clearly going to be an escalation of the strike. In short, it is not likely to subside as quietly as the government was hoping.