MUMBAI:The agitating students of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune are likely to find themselves on the wrong side of the NDA Government after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday expressed his solidarity with their demand for sacking the premiere institute’s newly appointed chairman Gajendra Chouhan, a ‘BJP activist’.
Insiders believe that the agitating students have lost the ‘politicisation of Institute’ argument after they invited a politician to counter another one.
“Now, the students will not be in a position to complain that the government is politicising the institute. Rahulji has clearly incited the students against the government. Their cinema was a hit till its golden jubilee. Henceforth, the viewers will not be interested in it,” a source said with a reference that Rahul had visited the institute on the 50th day of the students’ strike.
The Congress scion had visited the FTII on students’ invitation. They had written him a letter seeking his support in the fight against the government.
Rahul interacted with them for almost an hour on Friday afternoon. Actors-turn-politicians Chiranjeevi, Khushboo and Raj Babbar accompanied him.
The students received the Congress vice-president with applause when he said that the Union government was promoting RSS ideology. “The RSS and its wings promote mediocrity. I have seen this everywhere including judiciary and bureaucracy. A mediocre person has been put on top of people who don’t want to be mediocre,” he said.
When the students pointed out I&B Minister Arun Jaitley’s view that FTII should be privatised, Rahul said, “I won’t (support).”