Senior IIMC faculty resigns

The professor quit after an order was issued transferring him to the media school's campus in Odisha

A senior faculty member of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) on Friday resigned alleging that he was "targeted" by the I&B Ministry for supporting the protests over Dalit student Rohith Vemula's suicide and JNU and FTII issues.

Amit Sengupta, an associate professor in the department of English Journalism, quit after an order was issued transferring him to the media school's campus in Odisha's Dhenkanal district. I&B Ministry officials said Sengupta has been moved to the institute's Dhenkanal branch till further orders only because of shortage of staff.

"I have been targeted because I supported the solidarity protest for Rohith Vemula in the campus, organised independently by students of IIMC in which other faculty members too participated."

"I have been targeted also because I supported the JNU and FTII students," Sengupta wrote in his resignation letter.

Refuting allegations of politically targeting the IIMC faculty, a senior Information and Broadcasting Ministry official claimed that certain acts of Sengupta suggesting "indiscipline" had come to the notice of the authorities including his attempts to "politicise" the campus through posts on social media.