FTII row: As FTII headache grows, Govt looks at ‘honourable exit’

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At the same time, ministry sources said they were “not aware” of the midnight swoop by Pune Police on the protesting students for allegedly harassing and intimidating FTII director Prashant Pathrabe — all obtained bail on Wednesday.

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Sources indicated that the government may not immediately cancel the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as FTII president, which triggered the protests in June, as that would be a huge “loss of face”. But it is not completely averse to the idea of gradually bringing in a new face at the institute’s helm, they added.

“It’s going to be a tightrope walk. Some solution has to be arrived at without it appearing to be a climbdown for the government,” a government source said.

One of the suggestions being mooted is to expedite the process of making FTII an institute of National Importance — like the IITs — which would bring it under the category of a Central University. The appointment criteria will be different in Central universities, with the Vice-Chancellor being appointed by the President of India, said an official.

The government’s response came in the wake of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi declaring his solidarity with the protesting students and attacking PM Narendra Modi over the police action on the students.

“Protesting #FTII students arrested in #midnightcrackdown. Our students are not criminals Modiji. Silence. Suspend. Arrest: ModiMantra for AcheDin”, Rahul said in a tweet.

Ministry officials claim the government has “always maintained transparency” in its efforts to resolve the issue and that I&B Minister Arun Jaitley had talked to the student leaders at length and proposed solutions. But the student leaders, who had agreed to resolve issue, had never got back to the government, they added.

Accusing a section of student leaders of worsening the issue, a source said: “The stature of Chauhan may be debatable. But the stand that anybody who has links with the RSS or ABVP cannot be a part of any committee or society is not acceptable.”

Blaming the student protests for “the washout of two three-year courses, 2010 and 2014”, sources said the government was still ready to negotiate to ensure that admissions for the new courses are open.

According to officials, a three-member government-appointed team, led by the Registrar of Newspapers for India chief S M Khan, will visit the institute on Thursday and later submit a report on the incidents that led to the police raid. “The government may take a stand after seeing the report,” said an official.

Meanwhile, FTII students, along with the parents of some of them, today blamed the I&B ministry for the late night police action at the campus. “This feels like a move to break our spirit. We wanted a dialogue, we got assaulted in return,” said Shaz Mohammad, a protesting student.

Bishnupada Biswas, the father of an FTII student who was arrested, exhorted the government to find some solution to the students’ demands. Another parent, A Thothathri Raman said that “as parents, we’ll never give up on our children”. “The students have been right so far in all they are protesting against,” Raman said, asking the Prime Minister to “step in”.

Contemporary artist and painter Vivan Sundaram described the government’s actions as “a truly Fascist situation emerging in the country”.