FTII chief Chauhan meets 'father figure' Mohan Bhagwat

Film & Television Institute of India Chairman Gajendra Chauhan on Thursday called on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat to extend an invitation for his son's wedding.

Warding off wild speculation about his sudden visit, Chauhan described Bhagwat as 'father figure' and added the RSS had no role in his appointment as chairman of the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

"I had come to invite him for my son's wedding... Nothing more must be construed of this meeting," Chauhan told the media persons after emerging from an exclusive, one-on-one meeting with Bhagwat at the RSS headquarters here on THursday afternoon.

This was the controversial Chauhan's first visit to the RSS headquarters at Nagpur to meet Bhagwat since after he took over as the FTII chief last year amidst huge protests by the students and alumni there.

Considered close to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chauhan's appointment to the country's premier institute sparked off a long agitation and a 139-day-long students' strike that ended in October last year.

--IANS

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