Rahul Gandhi to Meet Protesting FTII Students Today

Pune:  Rahul Gandhi will today meet students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), who have been on strike for nearly two months over the appointment of television actor Gajendra Singh as their chairman.

Around 250 students of the Pune-based film training institute have boycotted classes and refused to return unless Mr Chauhan is removed.

Some students had approached the Congress vice president for help with their campaign and urged him to take it to Parliament.

The protesters had met Union Information and Broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley on July 3 but nothing came of it.

In a letter, the students have asked Rahul Gandhi to take up their cause like he had when the IIT Madras banned the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle. The ban was revoked last month after protests.

Mr Gandhi had accused the BJP-led government of pressuring IIT to punish the study circle for a lecture seen as critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJP has accused the Congress leader of trying to whip up politics over the film institute protests. “Rahul Gandhi is going to FTII just for a photo opportunity and to politicize the issue,” said BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh.

Protesting students countered that it was the central government that had “made it political by making an appointment for political reasons.”

Ajay, a student, said: “We wrote letters to 50 members across party lines, including BJP leaders like Shatrughan Sinha – but they did not respond.”