Just when you thought that the government’s behaviour over the controversy at Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India had reached its nadir, it has swung even lower. While the prime minister launches more charm offensives overseas in order to project India as a world power, the domestic constituency is catching a signal on a very different wavelength from his government. Five FTII students were booked in the wee hours for gheraoing the director. The police could have firmly prised the director from their clutches and taken him to safety, but they had chosen to carry non-bailable warrants. The timing of their intervention constituted a message in itself — it was the proverbial midnight knock. The force used was disproportionate to the provocation, confirming the public impression that the government wants to bully the students into submission instead of dealing with the issue that they have been protesting — the stuffing of their institution with political appointees, without regard for artistic or technical merit.
For some weeks now, public outrage has been directed at Gajendra Chauhan, a middling actor with BJP affiliations who was shoehorned into the chair of the institution, setting aside other candidates of much greater stature. The party also packed the FTII society with people close to it. It is not unusual for governments to appoint sympathisers to institutions, but it is unseemly to pack them. And appointees need to have some redeeming qualities apart from party allegiance.
