Freedom of speech – Do students in India nowadays have a right to speak out about what they feel is unfair? I don’t think so and this can be proven by the ongoing FTII movement which commenced on 12th June 2015.
Let me explain what all this hoopla is about.
FTII stands for Film and Television Institute of India which is based in Pune and considered one of the ace institutes that has produced some of the prized artists in the film and drama industry. It all started when Mr. Gajendra Chauhan (of the Mahabharata fame) was appointed Chairman of FTII by our very own Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
So, where does the problem arise? The students of the institute immediately retaliated to this appointment by claiming that Mr Chauhan is an undeserving candidate for the post as he had a short-lived fame during the Mahabharata series and then went on to do “B” grade films in the industry. FTII has always been known for maintaining standard by appointing famous and well-deserving artists like Girish Karnad and Shyam Benegal as chairmen in the past. What seems to upset the students more is that this appointing seems to be an indication of “Saffronizaton” because Mr. Chauhan has been a member of B.J.P since the year 2004.
Now the question that arises is whether the FTII movement is justifiable? We do have various answers supporting that. First off, it’s worth mentioning that an actor with almost next to nothing accolades became the chairman of such a prestigious film institute which had forerunners who were souvenirs of India. The students definitely had a right to opt for indefinite protestation and the worst thing that happened was to beat some of them up in order to silence them? Don’t we have a right of thought and speech anymore? Are the students going to be impeccable artists when they see Mr. Chauhan as their role model? I have serious doubts there.
As for B.J.P appointing Mr. Chauhan as the chairman, they had much more worthier candidates such as MR. Vinod Khanna or Shatrughan Sinha. So why did they go ahead and gave the position to Mr. Chauhan instead? I am not an avid follower of politics neither will my career be at stake if I portray my thoughts about the political motive involved in this FTII movement. Hence I can definitely convey my thoughts on this particular movement that has gained momentum rapidly throughout our country.
Is it valid to issue warrants against 50 student of FTII and arresting further four just to curb their rebellion? Let’s look at what happened. Students of 2008 batch were yet to complete their projects, & all of a sudden I&B ministry wakes up and directs the Institute to assess these projects. If the projects were not to be submitted within 6 days, the students would be failed or forced to leave the institute.
Does this directive coming from the ministry at the time when students were protesting sound like a mere coincidence? It was a well planned strategy to weaken the movement. So the Director registered an FIR claiming that he felt threatened from the students. Well sir, you were threatening their careers for raising their voices against what they thought was unfair. You were indirectly curbing the right to freedom of speech and expression of these students, and asking them to shut up. And they just gheraoed, not rioted. It was very unwise of the police to enter the hostels at midnight and arrest these students.
This has just fuelled the students all over the country. For example student bodies like JNU (Jawahar Lal Nehru University) and independent student union of Jadavpur University are taking active part in this rebellion and in turn cajoling further more student rebellions in different parts of the country. One such student is Suddhasatwa Guharoy of Jadavpur University. He, while discussing the movement, said “Javadpur does have a history of not tolerating any interference of state in education and in the fundamental rights of individuals. This time around safronisation has hit the FTII. Jadavpur will stand by them till the end and will vehemently continue to protest against safronisation of culture and education in the country”.
The question, which now arises is whether there is politics involved in this appointment or not. I would like to say that if a political leader is given a designation in an institute, does it necessarily mean that there is a agenda behind this political appointment? Is this a serious effort to saffronize the institutions of India gradually? These are the questions to which we have vague answers or no answers at all. As for this movement, I strongly believe that the future artists of the film industry cannot be groomed by somebody who faded into background decades ago and did not prove his mettle apart from a short lived fame.
