FTII row: Gajendra Chauhan set to take charge from 18 December

Six months after his appointment as the chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), TV actor and Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) member Gajendra Chauhan is set to assume charge at the institute on 18 December. Chauhan's appointment had drawn severe criticism and had led to a strike by the students which went on for 139 days.

For the first time since it was established by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on 9 June, 2015, the 26-member FTII society will meet on 18 December. The meeting will be chaired by Chauhan, who is also the FTII society president.

According to The Sunday Express, Chauhan stated that he received a communication from the FTII administration informing him about the meeting and asking him to assume charge.

Who is Gajendra Chauhan?

Chauhan is best known as Yudhishthira in the hugely popular Mahabharata TV series produced by BR Chopra. Chauhan has also appeared in numerous television soaps and several B grade Bollywood movies.

He has been associated with the BJP for over two decades, but he had formally joined the party in 2004. He campaigned extensively for the BJP in Haryana during the Lok Sabha elections last year.

Given his limited artistic abilities and 'doubtful capability' in helming the prestigious institute, the students were disappointed about the fact that their new chairman was a BJP worker. FTII students had also questioned his 'creative credentials' and whether he had the requisite vision in guiding the institute.

Many students had viewed the appointment as an attempt by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government to impose its right-wing agenda upon the institute. Students of the nation's most prestigious film school went on an indefinite strike in June, protesting the Ministry of I&B surprise appointment of Chauhan as the chairman of the institute.

Who backed the students?

Left-wing students' organisations like the All India Students' Association (AISA), Kolkata-based Satyajit Ray Film Institute and students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) had came out in strong support of the students.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and academic-politician Yogendra Yadav had visited the FTII to express solidarity with the students and register their protest against Chauhan's appointment. The students ended their protest on 28 October but have expressed that they are opposed to the decision. As the students resumed classes, a host of filmmakers, including Dibakar Banerjee and Anand Patwardhan, returned various government awards and honours to express solidarity with the students.