Agitating FTII students not criminals: Rahul

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the arrest of agitating FTII students, saying they were not criminals.

"Protesting FTII students arrested in midnight crackdown. Our students are not criminals. Silence, Suspend, Arrest: Modi Mantra for Achhe Din," Gandhi tweeted.

Talking to reporters, the Congress leader said the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) symbolised what was happening across institutions in India as the government was appointing people with RSS-BJP ideology everywhere.

"When we talk about the Vyapam scam, one thing was corruption, the other was wrong people were placed in institutions. People of RSS-BJP background, belonging to a particular ideology, were put in all institutions," he said.

"On one hand they destroyed creativity, and on the other hand, made money. This is the Madhya Pradesh model, the RSS or BJP education model," he said, adding that it was also visible in states like Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, which have BJP-led governments.

"Now this disease is spreading across the country. FTII is a symbol of it," he said.

In a post-midnight swoop, Maharashtra Police arrested five students of FTII from their campus for rioting, damaging property and other charges.

The arrests came after a group of striking students confined FTII director Prashant Pathrabe and other staffers in his office for eight hours, and vandalised office furniture and fittings.