The agitation, a relatively peaceful one, so far,
now for over 70 days, was again mishandled by the administration – in a series
of insensitive steps taken by the government (Ministry of Information &
Broadcasting) that began with appointment of Gajendra Chauhan.
In a late night crackdown on August
17, police arrested some protesting students from Film and Television Institute
of India (FTII) campus after the institute’s director complained of harassment,
that the next day became ‘mental torture’.
Well, the drama that began with the government
appointing a questionable man to run an esteemed institution like FTII, the day
to day developments and protests, the stubbornness shown by Gajendra Chauhan
and the government and the helplessness of students – it is the real torture
that we all have been subjected to – and are being subjected to daily – the mental
agony that we are forced to go through day after day.
Chauhan ji - is there a limit? Is
there something called 'enough is enough' for you? Is there something called
'morality' in you?
An action like the midnight crackdown
by the police, this is where this government is again fundamentally wrong –
after appointing Gajendra Chauhan.
Human beings are mostly political and
they have this or that sort of political affiliation and the political regime
of the day plays it accordingly. Nothing wrong in that. Right or wrong, but we
call this political pragmatism in the prevailing political scenario.
Anyway, there are many well known
right wing academicians - and certainly Gajendra Chauhan does not fit the bill.
FTII students have been protesting
since 70 days and we do not need any proof than this that the protests have
been peaceful.
Ideally, in the prevailing
circumstances, as a symbol of protest, even no new students should take admission
in the institute this year. New administration of FTII and the government are
wrong here - yes, they will say all bad things about students.
But we should not forget that FTII,
with all its routine administrative and academic problems, is still a premier
institute in its field because of tenacity and no present and prospective
students would like to compromise there.
In terms of student strength and
societal representation, FTII may not be that big to matter politically (if the
government thinks so), but the way the present row has been handled by the
government, it has not gone down well with the masses.
And so far, the government has failed
to read into the symbolic implications of this spiral.