Mumbai, Jan. 7: Gajendra Chauhan of Mahabharat fame took charge as chairperson of the Film and Television Institute of India today amid a minor Kurukshetra on the campus, with police clashing with protesting students and arresting 40 of them.

Chauhan, actor and BJP member known best for playing Yudhisthir in the 1988 TV series Mahabharat, marched into the campus to dhol beats from activists of Sangh student wing ABVP, who had entered the Pune institute unchecked.

The police were busy charging with batons at the student protesters who, while chanting "Go back, go back" at Gajendra, flashed posters that screamed "Tyranny of the elected". They were dragged away to police vans to keep them out of the chairperson's way.

"We strongly condemn the police action. They have acted as agents of a political establishment," said Rahaat Jain of the Left-leaning FTII Students Association, which led the protests.

"Their assault on the students was entirely unwarranted and unprovoked. We had given them advance notice of a peaceful and silent protest. We were not allowed into our own campus while a bunch of outsiders - ABVP members who are not students of the FTII - were allowed in."

The premier film institute has been an academic wasteland since Chauhan's appointment was announced on June 9 last year, triggering a student strike from June 12.

According to the students, Chauhan, who has mainly acted in TV serials and B-grade movies, lacks the stature expected of an FTII chairperson. On October 28, the students ended the strike as the government refused to budge.

Chauhan arrived today with a Maratha regent-style red turban on his head. His first act as institute head was to formally appoint his governing council.

Several of its members --- such as Pranjal Saikia, Anagha Ghaisas, Narendra Pathak, Rahul Solapurkar and Shailesh Gupta ---- are known to be close to the Sangh parivar. Among the rest are eminent film personalities Raju Hirani and Satish Shah.

Chauhan held a meeting of the governing council as the police took the protesting students to Shivajinagar police station. The protesters claimed that women students had been "manhandled".

"We had asked the students to demonstrate peacefully but we had to use force because they wanted to block the way to the institute.... We used minimum force," said deputy commissioner Tushar Joshi of the Deccan division of the Pune police.

Vikas Urs, one of the student leaders, said: "We have withdrawn the strike but we have not given up our protest against unacceptable appointments. Our protest will continue."