Rahul Gandhi"s Pep Talk to Protesting FTII Students: Highlights

Pune:  Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi visited Pune to interact with the students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), who are protesting the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the chairman.

Here are the highlights of what he told the students:

• What is it about the situation that has disturbed you people, explain that to me?


• Why do you think the government is disturbed by what you are doing?


• Democratically, if the majority say, “We don’t want him,” then he shouldn’t be there.


• This is being done systematically across the board and it is being done to take power away from you.


• The RSS ideology systematically promotes mediocrity.


• This is not about your school.


• This is happening across the board.


• You are taking somebody who is mediocre and putting them on top of somebody who doesn’t want to be mediocre.


• Only the PM decides in the BJP, only one man has the power.


• The real question is, how strongly are you willing to fight this issue?


• I am ready to fight with you.


• The nature of discussion is, “You agree with us, then fine. If not, we will smash you.”


• To shut people up they call you ‘anti-national, anti-Hindu’.


• Why do you think they want only one idea for this country?


• Why is it that they mind multiple ideas?


• The approach has to be of resistance.


• Not only of resisting in school, but outside as well.


• There is no one more powerful than you


• This will make a really nice movie, how the entire might of Indian government was trying to push 250 students aside.


• This is just a minor fight, the real fight is pushing what the real idea of the country is.


• You should use the pain that you’ve got right now and use it.


• I won’t be for privatisation of an institution like this, and I don’t think the Congress Party will either.


• The most successful institutions of this country have been government institutions like IITs and IIMs.


• There is a fundamental difference in your thinking and the RSS’s thinking.


• For you this institute is your flesh and blood.


• For them the institution is the structure. Their thinking is that they have the knowledge and they have to impart the knowledge.


• Whereas your thinking and my thinking is that the knowledge lies in you and it has to be brought out.