ABVP is the students wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which has strongly defended the appointment of actor Gajendra Chauhan as FTII chief, a move which has crippled the functioning of the premier institute.
The students' strike at FTII is "apolitical" but is not getting resolved due to the "reported presence" of same set of ABVP members on the campus who had attacked them two years back, a note from a senior official of the premier institute to the government says.
The note detailing the status of the agitation, before Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's visit to the Institute, says attempts have been made by most political parties to come and join the protests, but students have, by far, restrained themselves from taking their support.
"They did, however, allow (film maker) Anant Patwardhan and Yogendra Yadav (Ex-AAP leader) to visit the campus on the first and second day of the strike respectively, which led many to believe that it is a leftist movement of some sorts.
As I understand the protest appears to be apolitical," the unsigned note by the official to the Information & Broadcasting Ministry said. The note has been forwarded by the I&B Ministry to the Prime Minister's Office.
"Director FTII has been asked to monitor the situation sincerely and keep this ministry posted regularly," K Sanjay Murthy, Joint Secretary (Films), said in a brief Office Memorandum to PMO on June 26 to which the FTII official's note was annexed.
The note, accessed as file noting under the Right to Information Act, said the recent resistance by Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) students against appointments of certain members of FTII society is "coloured" by their past experience.
"Strong perceptions were formed which were reinforced by some press statements coming after the start of agitation and attributed to some society members that they would teach FTII students a lesson in nationalism etc.
"Further, on and off, reported presence of same set of ABVP members in campus, who had allegedly attacked the students two years back (as per the statements by students and even posed by media as a question to me yesterday evening) is not helping towards an early movement towards a solution," said the note.
ABVP is the students wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which has strongly defended the appointment of actor Gajendra Chauhan as FTII chief, a move which has crippled the functioning of the premier institute.
The note from the top FTII official says,"As far as I read them and understand them, present agitation is not against any political party." The note, describing the ground situation at the premier film institute said "present ground posturing" on the campus has been impacted by an incident that happened two years back when some people in FTII were attacked by ABVP members outside NFAI at the time of the screening of national award winning documentary Jai Bhim Comrade by by Anant Patwardhan.
"Though never openly said in press, I feel, the current protest has a lot to do with this past recent experience of clash with ABVP members. "Visit of same film maker Mr Patwardhan to the campus to support the students and subsequent constant interest shown by ABVP about the student protests and their on and off presence has given a new perspective and complex undercurrent to whole logjam," it said.
The note said that from the discussions with students, it emerges that they are concerned that issues concerning FTII have remained unresolved for the last four decades and solutions to the same have not been obtained.
"An early Act of Parliament may offer all the elusive solutions all are looking for," it said. It said FTII has an apolitical students' union and their grounds of protests have generally been issues concerning their academic activities or various "philosophical issues" concerning the autonomy of the Institute.
"These agitations have been both under UPA government as well as under NDA government," it said.
On Gajendra Chauhan's controversial appointment, the note said while the students understand that it is the prerogative of the government to nominate the Chairman, the students believe that present appointment would deal a "serious blow" to their ideological autonomy in some sense and compromise their perceived core ideas of institutional autonomy.
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