[[SOAS University of London]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]],[[PhD]])
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The Right is an endangered community in India's English-language media. I happen to be one of the few to have retained a precarious toe-hold in the mainstream media.
Throughout these years, Dasgupta emphasized the value of English in reaching out to the elites — who were allegedly mass-committed to the left-liberal cause — and winning them over towards hindutva; [20] he was one of the most fierce critics of the pro-vernacular policies followed by the communist government of West Bengal. [21]
In April 2016, the incumbent BJP government nominated Dasgupta to the Rajya Sabha as an eminent personality in literature; his term would have continued till 2022. [22] However, in 2021, Dasgupta resigned from Rajya Sabha to contest the Legislative Assembly election in West Bengal for BJP from Tarakeswar; he lost by over 7000 votes. A month later, Dasgupta was renominated to the Rajya Sabha for the remainder of his original term — opposition politicians and constitutional scholars questioned the legal soundness of the renomination.
Meera Nanda finds Dasgupta among India's most prominent center-right public intellectuals. [23] [24] Arvind Tajagopal found Dasgupta among the most vocal enthusiasts for the spread of Hindutva, in English language press in the 80s. [25] Scholars have located parallels between his writings and the thought school of Hindu nationalist organisations. [26] [27] [28]
He is married to Reshmi Ray Dasgupta, Lifestyle Editor at The Economic Times and has a son who is a practicing lawyer in the Supreme Court of India. [8] They reside in New Delhi. [8]
Politics of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution. India is a parliamentary secular democratic republic in which the president of India is the head of state & first citizen of India and the Prime Minister of India is the head of government. It is based on the federal structure of government, although the word is not used in the Constitution itself. India follows the dual polity system, i.e. federal in nature, that consists of the central authority at the centre and states at the periphery. The Constitution defines the organizational powers and limitations of both central and state governments; it is well recognised, fluid and considered supreme, i.e. the laws of the nation must conform to it. India is officially declared a secular and socialist state as per the Constitution.
The prime minister of India is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the executive. The prime minister has to be a member of one of the houses of bicameral Parliament of India, alongside heading the respective house. The prime minister and his cabinet are at all times responsible to the Lok Sabha.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP is aligned with right-wing politics and has close ideological and organisational links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a far-right paramilitary organisation. Its policies adhere to Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist ideology. As of January 2024, it is the country's biggest political party in terms of representation in the Parliament of India as well as state legislatures.
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Swapan Dasgupta | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha | |
In office 1 June 2021 –24 April 2022 | |
Constituency | Nominated (Journalism) |
In office 25 April 2016 –16 March 2021 | |
Succeeded by | Himself |
Constituency | Nominated (Journalism) |
Personal details | |
Born | Kolkata,West Bengal,India | 3 October 1955
Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party (1990 –present) |
Spouse | Reshmi Ray Dasgupta |
Children | 1 son |
Alma mater | St. Stephen's College,Delhi (BA) SOAS University of London (MA,PhD) Nuffield College,Oxford (Post-doctoral Fellow) |
Occupation | Journalist,Writer,Political analyst |
Awards | Padma Bhushan (2015) |
Swapan Dasgupta (born 3 October 1955) is an Indian journalist and politician. [1] He is influential within the Indian right wing, [2] [3] [4] writing columns for leading English dailies espousing Hindu nationalism. [5] He was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha. In 2015,Dasgupta was conferred with the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to literature and education. [6]
Dasgupta was born into a Bengali Baidya Brahmin family on 3 October 1955 in Calcutta,West Bengal. He received his schooling from St. Paul's School and La Martiniere Calcutta before graduating from St. Stephen's College in 1975. He earned his MA and Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies and returned to India briefly in 1979 to take up a management position at Calcutta Chemical Company,a family.
However,within a year,Dasgupta returned to the United Kingdom as a Junior Research Fellow at Nuffield College,Oxford,where he taught and researched South Asian Politics. [7] [8] During this time,an excerpt from his thesis concerning the intersectionality of local politics in the Midnapur district was published in one of the Subaltern Studies volumes. [7]
Dasgupta has served in editorial positions over several English dailies in India including The Indian Express,The Times of India,The Statesman,India Today et cetera. [7] [9] He is a frequent guest on news channels in English-language debates on Indian politics and international affairs. [7]
In February 2015,Swapan Dasgupta was appointed on the Board of Directors of Larsen and Toubro as a nominee of the Unit Trust of India. [10] He stepped down from Directorship of Larsen and Toubro upon being appointed to the Rajya Sabha. [11] [12]
In 2019,he published Awakening Bharat Mata:The Political Beliefs of the Indian Right. [13]
He was conferred Honorary Visiting Professorship at Center for Media Studies (CMS) at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in recognition to his excellent expertise on journalism and media. [14]
Dasgupta led the first edition of the Delhi University Literature Festival as its festival director alongside Sanjeev Sanyal as the festival patron in March 2023. [15]
Dasgupta started as a Trotskite during college but became a Thatcherite in England;since then,he has self-identified with centre-right politics. Dasgupta has been active in national politics since the early 90s as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP);he believed in the potential of the Mandal Commission recommendations and the Ram Rath Yatra to forge a common Hindu identity. [16] [7] [17]
Mushirul Hasan,writing in 1997,held him the chief spokesperson of BJP in the English language press. [18] In the early 2000s,Dasgupta blogged: [19]