National Award-winning actor Naseeruddin Shah has backed the protesting students at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata, while launching an all-out attack on the BJP led government in West Bengal.
Naseeruddin Shah backs SRFTI students
On Saturday, the veteran actor took to social media to share a video messaging supporting the SRFTI students, who are on a sit-in over alleged campus violence and demanding the resignation of the Vice Chancellor Santosh Ajmera.
In his message, the 76-year-old accused the BJP government of trying to extracting revenge on those who did not subscribe to their views.
“The BJP, after its manipulative victory in the Bengal elections now seems all out for revenge on anyone who does not subscribe to their beliefs and their policies. The latest victims of this vendetta are the students, the aspiring filmmakers of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. In return for their demand for accountability from the administration, they have been served show cause notices, put under surveillance, threatened, and now have even been asked to vacate the hostels,” he said
The actor also alleged the party of trying to brainswash and frighten future filmmakers. “This BJP, not content with backing and encouraging shameless propaganda in its favour, is now hoping either to brainwash or frighten the future filmmakers of this country, and I can promise you that is not going to happen. These are the young people who in the future will tell us the truth about themselves and about our country and about the state we are in. I urge all right-minded citizens to support the demands of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute students,” he added in the video.
Naseer isn’t the first person from the film fraternity to back the protesters at the SRFTI. Earlier, filmmaker Payal Kapadia, too, had posted a video backing the students and saying she was horrified by the alleged violence that took place in the campus.
The SRFTI’s response to the protests
On October 4, the institute said that a group of persons from outside the campus gathered near the main gate of the Institute and created disturbances, which disrupted the security environment of the Institute. SRFTI said that a formal complaint regarding the incident has been filed with the concerned authorities. The students allege that the violence was orchestrated by members of the RSS. The students have been protesting for action against the alleged perpetrators since, and also demanding the resignation of vice chancellor Santosh Ajmera.
Earlier, on October 1, VC Santosh Ajmera, called the alleged events of September 27 unfortunate and said that students are at the heart of the Institute, and their safety, dignity, well-being and academic journey remain the foremost priority. He stated that there can be no justification for violence within an educational institution. He assured students and their families of the Institute’s firm commitment to their safety and well-being.
The Institute also said it was extending full cooperation to the concerned authorities and following due process. All necessary measures are being taken to strengthen campus safety and security and to ensure that such an incident does not recur.
In a notice on October 15, the SRFTI had said that a student had manhandled the institute’s Vice-Chancellor Santosh Ajmera, while others gheraoed and abused him.
(With ANI inputs)