Swapan Dasgupta

Swapan Dasgupta is an Indian member of parliament, journalist, and a nominee of Rajya Sabha. He was born in Calcutta, West Bengal, India on October 3, 1955, to S.C. Dasgupta and Rekha. Swapan's father was the chairperson and founder of Calcutta Chemical Company, a famous name in the field of pharmaceutical, while his mother was Sushil Chandra Sen CBE' daughter. 

His grandfather was among the first few Indians who got the opportunity to study and graduate from Stanford University. As it is evident, Swapan was born into a wealthy family. He went to St. Paul's School, Darjeeling, La Martiniere Calcutta, and later to St. Stephen's College, Delhi and School of Oriental and African Studies, London.

Swapan was excellent in academics and was one of the toppers in the Delhi University. He studied in School of Oriental and African Studies on a scholarship and prepared a thesis on Local politics in Bengal, Midnapur District.

After returning to India, he started to help his parents in the family business but soon realized that academia was his true calling. He took up a job at Nuffield College, Oxford, as a Junior Research Fellow. INLAKS-Shivdasani Foundation awarded him their scholarship.

In 1986, he came back to his motherland and worked for The Statesman, The Times of India, India Today, The Indian Express, and The Telegraph. Swapan has also appeared on the debates of news channels like Times Now, NDTV, CNN-IBN, and others.

He is the editor of Nirad Chaudhuri—The First Hundred Years and participated in NDTV's weekly show named Politically Incorrect. Swapan has also given lectures on politics, history, and current affairs, in various states of India and aboard.

London's Distinguished Lecture Series at the Tagore Centre for Global Thought, King's India Institute, King's College, London lauded his work Indian Conservatism. In 2015, Swapan became one of the directors of Larsen and Toubro.

However, his appointment received mixed reactions from one and all. In the same year, St. Stephen's College, his alma mater honored him with the C.F. Andrews Award. A year later, Pranab Mukherjee, ex-president of India, nominated him for Rajya Sabha.

As a result, he resigned from Larsen and Toubro. Though he is on good terms with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Swapan is not its part and is Rajya Sabha's independent member. AMU's vice-chancellor recommended his name for the post of adjunct faculty in the department of political science.

His wife, Reshmi Dasgupta, works at The Economic Times as a Lifestyle Editor. The couple are loving parents to a son.