The glitterati, the Twitterati and almost everybody around is expressing shock over the recent appointment of former cricketer and BJP MP Chetan Chauhan as the NIFT Chairman. There was a similar reaction happened when Gajendra Chauhan was elected as the chairman of Film and Television Institute of India. Recently, actor Salman Khan’s appointment as India’s goodwill ambassador for Rio Olympics was also questioned. Most online remarks focus on whether experience in a specific field counts, when such positions are filled.
In Chetan’s case, fashionistas wondered whether something as important as the fashion industry deserved such an inexperienced person? Chetan and the fashion institute has been facing a lot of flak for this decision. 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 a chairman and I wonder why. People need to understand that a certain fashion background is required to head such a position. They have had some important people from the fashion industry in the past. Where does this man pop up from? They probably just wanted to please the person and gave him the post and he took the position without having any 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 a chairman to head NIFT, maybe they needed someone to take some decisions at a political level.”
