Striking FTII students get more ammunition after RTI reveals Gajendra's two-line CV

Striking FTII students get more ammunition after RTI reveals Gajendra's two-line CV
Striking FTII students get more ammunition after RTI reveals Gajendra's two-line CV
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An RTI response recently revealed that FTII chief Gajendra Chauhan had submitted a one-paragraph CV while applying for the post. Students at the institute said that this is in concurrrence with what they have been saying all along; that Chauhan’s credentials were not fit for the post.Students at FTII have been up-in-arms against Chauhan’s appointment as the institute’s chairman and their strike entered its 52nd day on Sunday. There has also been disquiet at the nature of other appointments, which have been deemed political.The RTI response says that Chauhan’s CV states: “Gajendra Chauhan is an actor who is best known for his portrayal of the eldest Pandava 'Yudhishthir' in the Mahabharat (TV series). He has worked in around 150 movies and over 600 TV serials.”Students at the institute say that such information which has been trickling in only re-affirms the fact that Chauhan is a political appointee who lacks the wherewithal to be heading the institution.“We have been saying this since the first day and now the truth is surfacing,” says Rajesh Shukla, the student’s spokesperson at FTII. “It is not that the two lines he has on his CV say Nobel laureate or something,” he says sarcastically, adding, “then we would be impressed.”Shukla adds that the students are going to have a protest march in Delhi at 2 p.m.  on Monday afternoon. The demonstration is to move from Jantar Mantar to the Parliament House.  Shini, a TV editing student at the college also voices her displeasure at the state of affairs in the college which has been in shut-down mode for close to a month now.“What is his body of work?” she asks. She mentions that the students have been reiterating the same over the past weeks and now it is there for everyone to see.“As chairman he is heading the governing council and the academic council,” she says. “How can he take up such positions which entail the framing of syllabus and the like?” she asks exasperatedly.The post-graduation student adds that it was not just Chauhan, but the nature of all the recent appointments. Both express resentment at name of Narendra Pathak, who has formerly headed the Maharashtra wing of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidya Parishad  (ABVP).“They have appointed people like Pathak, at whose behest our students used to get beat up while organizing protests,” she says.If the authorities in question had expected the protests in Pune to simmer, they will have their hands full as the FTII march reaches the capital tomorrow. 

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