Three FTII students have begun a hunger strike to press their demand for the removal of Gajendra Chauhan as the director of the institute.
On Tuesday, Abhijit Das, a contractual faculty member at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) who had gone on a fast demanding resolution of the current impasse, ended it after 66 hours due to health concerns.
Film and Television Institute of India Students’ Association (FSA) which is spearheading the now nearly three-month-old strike in protest against the appointment of TV actor and BJP member Gajendra Chauhan as the chairman, said the teachers and students convinced Das to end the fast.
Meanwhile, the agitating students, who have questioned Chauhan’s credentials, have put up an art installation on the campus replicating Mahatma Gandhi’s image, apparently in consonance with the idea of their proposed hunger strike.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry, according to the FSA, has remained unresponsive to students’ latest overture to initiate fresh dialogue.
The students have also alleged that FTII director Prashant Pathrabe was not doing anything to resolve the crisis and was using “manipulative mechanism” to malign the protesting students.
(With PTI inputs)
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