FTII Students’ Association reminds of Babri demolition in statement against govt’s holiday announcement on 22 Jan

The student community of Film and Television Institute of India (FTIl) resonates with a vehement condemnation of the Government of India’s recent declaration of a half-day holiday on January 22, 2024, in celebration of Ram Lalla Pratishtha at Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, said the Film and Television Institute of India Students’ Association (FTIISA).

“This audacious move not only casts a shadow of doubt upon the cherished notion of secularism embedded in our Constitution but also callously overlooks the bloodshed that stained the very land during the infamous demolition of the Babri Masjid,” read a statement signed by FTIISA president Mankap Nokwoham and general secretary Sayantan Chakrabarty.

“The students of FTII brazenly denounce this governmental decree as a blatant abuse of power, a direct assault on the secular fabric that forms the bedrock of our nation. The insidious timing of this half-day holiday, conveniently preceding elections, reeks of a premeditated ploy by the ruling BJP government to sow seeds of communal discord under the guise of religious celebration. It is an unequivocal attempt to polarize the country along religious lines, an affront to the principles of a truly secular and democratic India,” it said.

“We strongly believe that the state should never be tainted with the hues of religious bias. The government’s directive is perceived as a forceful imposition of its machinery to disseminate divisive ideologies through religious channels. This audacious saffronisation is deemed a heinous threat to the very essence of the country’s secularism and democracy. In the face of this audacious assault on the spirit of the nation, the FTIl student community stands united, resolute in its opposition to the insidious machinations that seek to compromise the foundational values of our democracy,” read the statement.