Rahul Gandhi attacks RSS on FTII issue

New Delhi, Aug 13
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday led a delegation of party leaders to submit a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee on the FTII issue and said its chairman Gajendra Chauhan was not capable of running the institution.

He also said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was "controlling the education system" in the country.

"(Congress leader) Mani Shankar Aiyar said the most powerful thing India has is its soft power and it is about creativity in institutions like Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and other institutions like the universities in Maharashtra and Delhi.

"This creativity is being crushed by the RSS's desire to control the education system in this country," Rahul Gandhi told the media after meeting President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan on the FTII issue.

"They have already destroyed the education system in Madhya Pradesh with the Vyapam scam. We are not going to allow them to destroy these institutions," the Congress leader said.

He said a memorandum had been submitted to the President on the issue. He, however, did not give details of the meeting.

"The boys and girls of this institution (FTII) are fighting for the soul of this country. They have come to the institution based on their capabilities, but the people who are placed on top do not have the same capability," Rahul Gandhi said.

"They do not have the merit to be placed on top of the students. The only merit they have is they have sung the praises of the prime minister, of the BJP and believed in the RSS ideology," he said.

The students of FTII have been protesting for more than two months against the appointment of actor and BJP member Gajendra Chauhan as its chairman.