On Teachers Day a faculty member Abhijit Das, has embarked on indefinite hunger fast in support of the FTII movement

In Solidarity with the students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII)

The struggle of the FTII student body has entered its 87th day. Yesterday on Teachers Day a faculty member Abhijit Das, who is also an alumnus from the 1998 batch, has embarked on indefinite hunger fast in support of the movement.

Students have been peacefully and patiently protesting against the politically motivated and non-transparent appointments by the central government of RSS members, associates and supporters to crucial positions of Chairman and members of the FTII Society which directly impact the credibility of this prestigious national institute and film school. At the expense of their professional training and their futures, the students have consistently and courageously stood up against a regime which is rapidly emerging as a threat to the country’s entire cultural and intellectual structure by placing a series of extremely mediocre but ideologically amenable and pliable persons in positions of authority in all national bodies.

The sustained and principled struggle of the students of the FTII has in fact shown the country that their path of resistance is the only way to stop this trend. They are not only struggling to protect FTII but are defending the basic right of all our cultural and academic bodies and institutions to be assured of their intellectual and professional credibility.

The support across the country for the FTII students struggle is growing day by day. The Central Government should acknowledge and not aggravate its mistakes. The All India Forum for the Right to Education (AIFRTE) strongly condemns the intemperate action taken by the Director and the authorities of the FTII in having summoned police onto the campus with non-bailable arrest warrants against students of the institute. Although the court later granted them bail, this shocking action, which could not have been taken without the support and tacit consent of the Information & Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, was the proverbial ‘midnight knock’ that is associated with all authoritarian regimes and shows the desperation of the government in handling a situation in which only its ineptitude and political bias have landed it.

Corrective action must be taken immediately. The Chairman and recent appointees to the governing council should be asked to withdraw and appointments of credible persons following transparent procedures should immediately be undertaken.

This is urgently required for what is involved is not the trivial issue of ‘face-saving’ for the government. It is the future of the country’s foremost academic, cultural and intellectual institutions which is at stake.

AIFRTE Presidium

Dr Meher Engineer, West Bengal, Chairperson, AIFRTE;

Ex-President, Indian Academy of Social Science; Kolkata

Prof. Wasi Ahmed, Bihar, Former Joint Secretary, AIFUCTO; Patna

Sri Prabhakar Arade, Maharashtra, President, AIFETO; Kolhapur

Prof. G. Haragopal, Andhra Pradesh, National Fellow, ICSSR; TISS, Hyderabad

Prof. Madhu Prasad, Delhi, Formerly Dept. of Philosophy, Zakir Husain College, Delhi University

Prof. Anil Sadgopal, Madhya Pradesh, Former Dean, Faculty of Education, Delhi University; Bhopal

Prof. K. Chakradhar Rao, Telengana, Dept. of Economics, Osmania University, Hyderabad

Prof. K. M. Shrimali, Delhi, Formerly Dept. of History, Delhi University

Dr Anand Teltumbde, West Bengal, Professor of Management, IIT, Kharagpur