If midnight knock at FTII is not Emergency-like then what is?

In most works of art, a midnight crackdown is synonymous with a police state. In India's popular imagination, it is associated with the infamous arrests during the Emergency, defined by arrogance and an authoritarian streak. The midnight police raids in  the campus,  followed  by the arrest of five agitating students,  of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, smacks of a similar overbearing, highhanded approach. It is unheard of the police being allowed to enter the campus of an educational institution to arrest students. There seems to be a scripted, almost well thought out strategy to handle the ongoing 70-odd-day strike at the FTII.

While the students have ostensibly been protesting against the appointment of a chairman and other members of the FTII society, those familiar with the institution know that there are many untended issues plaguing the institute for years. To ratchet up these by the newly appointed director, when the core issue had not yet been resolved, was provocative, to say the least. In an already surcharged atmosphere, this move seems to be a deliberate attempt by the babus of the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry to shift the narrative from their indefensible appointments of film personalities with mediocre, if not dubious, credentials, to issues which, undoubtedly need corrective measures but will show the students in poorer light, as unreasonable, pampered, self-indulgent brats.   

The government has obviously dug in its heel and is working to a game plan. The late night police crackdown in the FTII may seem an overreaction but is a blatant attempt to intimidate students to submission. The use of the rod may give the ministry temporary victory. But in the long run, this will neither solve the systemic problems plaguing the FTII, nor will it give the new director any moral authority to run the institute. Or give him the roadmap to transform it into a centre of excellence. Unless, of course, he has been mandated to plot an endgame - a Machiavellian plan to shut down the FTII itself. Even if temporarily. As a first step towards its privatisation.

With politicians entering the fray, with Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal batting for the protesting students, this may now be  a difficult option for the government  to exercise. Already and inexplicably, they have wasted too much political capital on this issue.

The sensible approach will be for the ministry to diffuse the situation immediately. To begin substantive backchannels dialogue with the students, using eminent alumni of the FTII as conduits. If the I&B ministry is serious  about salvaging the mess, it must rethink its strategy. A  straitjacketed and regimented approach will not work. It will only make matters worse.

Before the next team of I&B mandarins reach Pune, I suggest they and their political masters, watch two films - Dead Poets Society and 3 Idiots. Both these films capture the poignancy of non-conformism in educational institutions.

In Dead Poets Society, the Robin Williams character - a professor of English - tries to liberate his students and inject passion in their lives.  He says, "But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary."

But the film, which I am certain the I&B mandarins will enjoy more, is 3 Idiots - a Bollywood presentation of the tragedy of conformist teaching and the triumph of an out-of-the-box approach to academia. Ironically, 3 Idiots, one of the all-time great commercial successes of Bollywood, has been produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and directed by Raju Hirani - both illustrious alumni of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.