FTII students end hunger strike, talks with Modi govt on Sep 29

Pune, Sep 27: The agitating students at FTII today called off their 18-day-old hunger strike in response to the Information and Broadcasting ministry's letter fixing a meeting for further dialogue on September 29 to end the deadlock over the contentious appointment of actor and BJP member Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of the institute.

The FTII students were on a relay hunger strike for the last 18 days to intensify their over three-month-long stir demanding withdrawl of Chauhan as the institute's chairman.

The students today called off the fast after receiving a communication from the Joint Secretary, I and B ministry, K Sanjay Murthy, addressed to FSA president Harishankar Nachimuthu, spelling out the date and venue for the proposed talks.

The ministry had earlier said that for the talks to take place, the hunger strike should end. In a statement today, FTII Students' Association (FSA) said, "The students are happy to see a prompt response to their request for confirmation of modalities of meeting and will now approach this dialogue with a view to finding solutions with the ministry to resolve the crisis as soon as possible."

The meeting will taken place at the Films Division office in Mumbai on September 29.

The main demands of the striking students are removal of Chauhan, who, they say, lacks credentials for the post, and putting in place "a transparent mechanism" to ensure appointments of deserving persons of eminence to the FTII Society, its governing body.

The strike by the students, who have been boycotting classes since June 12, bringing the academic activity to a standstill, entered 108th day today.

PTI