New Delhi, July 10 : Gajendra Chauhan, whose appointment as FTII chairman had sparked a row, today said politics was “mixed” in the recent students protests in the country as only those belonging to certain groups were involved while most of the others were unaffected.
“If you see, there is a mild rage among students across the country, but it is only in certain groups. For instance, if a group of 50 students in an institute or university exhibit such behaviour it is not that all students there are involved in it,” Chauhan said on the sidelines of a conference at the Constitution Club here.
He said, “Why don’t the others participate? It shows that there is a certain amount of politics mixed in this.” He as asked about the recent student protests in some parts of the country.
Chauhan, who shall play the character of Nishadraj at the Luv Kush Ramleela in New Delhi’s Red Fort this year, shared the dais with former cricketer Manoj Prabhakar, his wife Farhaan and others who shall also be participating in the 12-day event starting October 1. Chauhan took a dig at Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav, who were among the first to visit the FTII campus amid the student agitation at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) by students who wre opposing his appointment.
He also did not spare Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who tweeted his statements expressing his support for the students around the same time.
“Yogendra Yadav was the first big political leader to visit the campus, then came Rahul Gandhi. Arvind Kejriwal too gave quite a few statements of the issue revolving around FTII. I want to ask them all what they have done since then for the institute?” Chauhan said.
Chauhan, who is best known for his portrayal of Yudhishthira in the Mahabharat television series aired in the late 80s, said, “On July 5 we had our second governing council meeting, in which several new things were passed which shall be implemented in 2016 batch... I assure that I shall complete a lot of pending things by the time my tenure ends.”
“From past two years no annual report was tabled in Parliament, that we have completed, new syllabus was pending for 10 years, that we are going to implement from the upcoming session,” he added.
