The glitterati, the Twitterati and almost everybody around is expressing shock over the recent former cricketer and BJP MP Chetan Chauhan’s appointment as NIFT Chairman. A similar reaction happened when Gajendra Chauhan was elected as Film and Television Institute of India. More recently actor Salman Khan’s appointment as India’s goodwill ambassador for Rio Olympics was also question. Most online remarks focus on whether experience in a specific field counts, when such positions are filled.
In Chetan’s case, fashionistas wonder whether something as important as the fashion industry deserve such half baked attention Chetan and the fashion institute has been facing a lot of flak for this step. We find out why.
Fashion designer and ex member of the board of governors of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) Manoviraj Khosla says, “Would you appoint Rohit Bal and Tarun Tahiliani to the BCCI board What does Chetan know about fashion Over the years a lot of NIFT directors have been senior bureaucrats and for some reason they get appointed as chairman and I wonder why. But people need to understand that a certain fashion background is required to head such a position. They have had some important people from the garment industry in the past. Where does this man pop up from They probably just want to please that person and gave him that post and that person taking the position has no clue of what his role is.”
“Well, Chetan plays well,” laughs Nealesh Dalal, managing director, JD Institute of Fashion Technology, adding, “On a serious note, if he is selected as chairman to head NIFT, maybe they needed someone to take some decisions at a political level. He has played his cards right.”
