Rahul ‘not invited’ to solve row: FTII students

Even as students of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India refused to back down from their indefinite strike, the imbroglio threatened to become overtly political with the Congress on Tuesday claiming that the agitators had sought the intervention of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

Speaking to The Hindu, the FTII Students' Association (FSA) however, denied the Congress’ claims and clarified that they had not ‘invited’ Mr. Gandhi, but had written to MPs across party lines to apprise them of the crisis.

“This is a gross distortion of facts which threatens to degenerate the issue into a political slanging-match. We have written letters, but to MPs across party lines… We have written to Prakash Javadekar, Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha in the BJP and K.C. Tyagi of the Janata Dal (United) among others. So claims that we have made an exception by writing to Mr. Gandhi alone are misleading and debilitating to our cause,” Harishankar Nachimuthu, president, FSA, told The Hindu.

Congress sources further claimed that in the letter to Mr. Gandhi, Mr. Nachimuthu had requested the Congress vice-president to take up their issue as he had taken up the cause of Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle in IIT-Madras.

“Yes, it is true we have referenced the issue [Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle] in the letter to Mr. Gandhi, but we have not sought his intervention alone. We seek the support of every MP to resolve the crisis,” said Mr. Nachimuthu.