FTII row: Talks fail to break deadlock, next meeting on Oct 6

With students  of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) sticking to their demand for the removal of TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as the institute’s chairman, a second round of talks between the striking students and officials of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry failed to break the deadlock on Thursday, but the two sides have agreed to meet again in New Delhi on October 6.

During the talks, which lasted for four hours, students held firm to their ‘core demand’ of dissolving the FTII society headed by Chauhan, who is also a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The ministry team was represented by Joint Secretary K Sanjay Murthy, Deputy Secretary Deepak Kumar and Films Division Director Mukesh Sharma. 

“The meeting we had today was in continuation of our last meet two days back. We have decided to further continue our talks on Tuesday (October 6) in Delhi with the Secretary of I&B department,” 

<g data-gr-id="17">spokesperson</g> of FTII Students Association (FSA) Vikas Urs said.

 “We asked them to dissolve the current FTII society and come up with a transparent process set up by a committee of experts, which will make norms for the formation of a new society. Until that happens, we want the current society to be put into a passive state or to be dissolved altogether,” he said.