Rohit K. Dasgupta

Rohit K. Dasgupta FRAS, FHEA is an Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality at the London School of Economics and Political Science^[1] and a British Labour Party politician.^[2] Prior to this he was a Senior Lecturer in the School of Culture and Creative Arts at the University of Glasgow where he remains as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow.^[3] In 2018 he was elected Councillor in the London Borough of Newham for the Canning Town South Ward.^[4][5] He was re-elected for the same ward again in 2022 ^[6] He contested the Parliamentary seat of East Hampshire for the Labour Party in 2017, coming second with an increase of 7% vote share.^[7] He is also Secretary of the Newham Branch of the Fabian Society.^[8] In 2019 he was selected as an MEP candidate for the South East region (5th on the list) but failed to get elected.^[9] Dasgupta is also a member of Labour's National Policy Forum and sits on the Work, Pensions and Equality Policy Commission.^[10]

Cllr Dr Rohit K. Dasgupta FRAS FHEA
Personal details
Born	Kolkata, India
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour Party, Co-operative Party
Alma mater	University of the Arts London, University of Westminster, Jadavpur University
Profession	Academic, Politician
Known for	Queer Politics, South Asian Studies, Cultural Industries, Labour Politics

Background

Dasgupta gained a BA degree in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University, India, then graduated MA in English from the University of Westminster, PGCE from the University of West London, and PhD from the University of the Arts.^[11]

Political career

He was elected as a Labour and Co-operative party Councillor in the London Borough of Newham for the Canning Town South Ward in the 2018 United Kingdom Local elections.^[4][5][12] Following his election he was appointed Commissioner for Social Integration and Equalities in 2019. He was re-elected for the same ward in 2022 and appointed Deputy Cabinet Member for Social Justice, Equalities and Culture by the Mayor. He had previously contested the East Hampshire parliamentary seat in the General election, coming second with 17% of the vote share.^[13] Dasgupta is also the Chair of his local Labour party branch^[14] and Secretary of the Newham Fabian Society.^[15] He was one of the first Bengalis from West Bengal, India to contest the British Parliamentary elections.^[16][17][18] Dasgupta is also a member of BAME Labour, Labour Movement for Europe, Fabian Society, GMB and UCU. In 2018 he was elected on to the national committee of LGBT Labour.^[19] In 2019 he was selected as an MEP candidate for the South East region but failed to get elected.^[9][20] He has previously expressed his opposition to Brexit and support for a second referendum.^[21]

Academic career

Dasgupta is an Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to this he was a Senior Lecturer in Cultural Industries at the University of Glasgow. He has previously worked at the Institute for Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University (where he remains as a Visiting Fellow),^[22] Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton; University of the Arts London and University of Sussex . During 2024 he was a Visiting Faculty at the Centre for Advanced Research in Global Communication, University of Pennsylvania.^[23] Dasgupta has authored and edited several books on media and digital culture, cinema, sexuality, gender, sexual health, anthropology and activism.^[24] He has also written for outlets such The Independent, The Conversation, Tribune Magazine, Left Foot Forward, Labour List and the Huffington Post.^{[25][26][27][28][29][30][31]} He has been involved in strike action against pension cuts, organising against homophobia and supporting inclusive relationship and sex education.^[32][33][34]

Electoral history

2017 general election

General Election 2017: East Hampshire^[35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Damian Hinds	35,263	63.6	+3.0
	Labour	Rohit Dasgupta	9,411	17.0	+6.9
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Robinson	8,403	15.2	+4.1
	Green	Richard Knight	1,760	3.2	−3.0
	JAC	Susan Jerrard	571	1.0	+1.0
Majority			25,852	46.6	−2.1
Turnout			55,567	75.6	+4.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.95

2018 local election

Canning Town South (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Griffiths	1,991	23
	Labour	Rohit Dasgupta	1,965	22
	Labour	Belgica Guana	1,693	19
	Conservative	Marc Pooler	643	7
	Conservative	Mark Seymour	559	6
	Liberal Democrats	Caroline Carey	552	6
	Green	Danny Keeling	464	5
	Conservative	Mahyar Tousi	378	4
	CPA	Myrtle Laing	222	3
	CPA	Sharmila Swarna	145	2
	CPA	Prossy Namwanje	144	2
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

2019 European Parliament election

Date of election	Region		Party	Votes	Percentage of votes	Result
2019 European election	South East England	John Howarth(10), Cathy Shutt, Arran Richard Neathey, Emma Christina Turnbull, Rohit K. Dasgupta, Amy Lauren Fowler, Duncan Shaw Thomas Enright, Lubna Aiysha Arshad, Simon Guy Burgess, Rachael Eowyn Ward		Labour	184,678	7.27	Not Elected

2022 local election

Canning Town South (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rohit Kumar Dasgupta	630
	Labour	Alan Griffiths	585
	Labour	Belgica Guana	536
	Independent	Carel Jane Buxton	187
	Green	Oliver Reynolds	185
	Green	Deb Scott	161
	Independent	Darshi Wijesinghe	155
	Conservative	Tim Gamble	144
	Conservative	Marc James Pooler	122
	Green	Benjamin Ian Smith	106
	Conservative	Rachel Nabudde	103
	CPA	Myrtle Verona Laing	74
	CPA	Sharmila Sundar Swarna	54
	CPA	Prossy Namwanje	50
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Writing

Books

• (with Gokulsing, K.M., eds) (2014) Masculinity and its Challenges in India: Essays on Changing Perceptions Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland and Co
• (with Datta, S. and Bakshi, K., eds) (2016) Rituparno Ghosh: Cinema, Gender and Art, New Delhi, New York & London: Taylor & Francis: Routledge
• (2017) Digital Queer Cultures in India: Politics, Intimacies and Belonging, New Delhi, New York & London: Taylor & Francis: Routledge
• (with Dhall, P. ) (2017) Social Media, Sexuality and Sexual Health Advocacy in Kolkata, India, New Delhi & London: Bloomsbury
• (with Banerjie, N., Dasgupta, D., and Grant, J., eds) (2017) Friendship as Social Justice Activism: Critical Solidarities in a Global Perspective, Kolkata/London: Seagull Books and Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• (with Dasgupta, D., eds) (2017) Queering Digital India: Activisms, Identities, Subjectivities, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
• (with Begum, and L. Lewis., eds) (2018), Styling South Asian Youth Cultures: Fashion, Media and Society, London: Bloomsbury
• (with Datta, S) (2019) 100 Essential Indian Films, Lanham, MD and London: Rowman and Littlefield
• (with Bakshi, K) (2019) Queer Studies: Texts, Contexts, Praxis, Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan
• (with Banerjie, N and Boyce, P) (2022) COVID-19 Assemblages: Queer and Feminist Ethnographies from South Asia, London: Routledge
• (with Jordan, J, Hitchen, G. et al) (2023) Mapping Innovation in India’s Creative Industries: Policy, Context and Opportunities, London: Routledge
• (with Biswas, S and Mahn, C) (2024) Queer Politics in Times of New Authoritarianisms: Popular Culture in South Asia, London: Routledge
• (with Clini, C) (2024) The Cultural Industries of India, London: Routledge
• (with Ghosh, A and Shringarpure, B) (2024) India’s Imperial Formations: Cultural Perspectives, Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
• (with Mahn, C and DJ Ritu) (2025) Desi Queers: LGBTQ+ South Asians and Cultural Belonging in Britain, London: Hurst Publishers

References

1. Science, London School of Economics and Political. "Rohit K Dasgupta". Retrieved 10 September 2024.
2. "Councillor Rohit Kumar Dasgupta". Newham Council. 16 July 2021.
3. "Rohit Dasgupta". University of Glasgow.
4. "Election Results from Canning Town South". Newham Council. 3 May 2018.
5. "Your Councillors by Ward". Newham Council. 16 July 2021.
6. "Newham Council Local Elections 2022". Newham London.
7. "Hampshire East parliamentary constituency - Election 2019 - BBC News" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
8. "Local Fabians | Fabian Society".
9. "Labour candidates for the European elections". The Labour Party.
10. "Rohit Dasgupta". Labour Policy Forum.
11. "Our staff | Loughborough University London". www.lborolondon.ac.uk.
12. Dasgupta, Priyanka. "Kolkata youth now a London councillor". Times of India.
13. "Election hopefuls grilled at hustings". Alton Herald.
14. Rampen, Julia. "How a mayoral selection in Newham is turning into an attempted coup".
15. Hopps, Kat (2 February 2017). "Fabian nomination in Newham mayoral vote 'breached society's rules'". Newham Recorder.
16. Roy, Amit. "To read British pulse, watch Calcutta boy's contest". Archived from the original on 12 July 2018.
17. "Calcutta boy answers call to Brexit battle". Archived from the original on 20 October 2017.
18. "From Student Politics To Contesting The UK Parliamentary Elections: Here's The Story Of A 29-Year-Old Kolkata Boy". 3 May 2017.
19. "National Committee". LGBT Labour.
20. "Newham councillor to stand against Nigel Farage in the EU elections". 19 April 2019.
21. "Sign in". PV Staff.
22. "Our staff | Loughborough University London". www.lborolondon.ac.uk.
23. "Alumni | Annenberg". www.asc.upenn.edu. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
24. "Loughborough University Research Publications". publications.lboro.ac.uk.
25. Dasgupta, Rohit (8 February 2018). "Coming out isn't as easy as you think for a LGBT+ person of colour". The Independent.
26. Dasgupta, Rohit. "Why I Refuse To Blame The English Working Class For Brexit". Huffington Post.
27. Dasgupta, Rohit. "Why Queer Folk Must Vote Against Brexit". Huffington Post.
28. Dasgupta, Rohit. "Coronavirus lockdown: LGBTQ people face hostility and loneliness". The Conversation.
29. Dasgupta, Rohit. "Don't Send More Homophobic Voices to Europe". Tribune.
30. Dasgupta, Rohit (24 April 2019). "Why I'm standing against Nigel Farage in the European elections". Left Foot Forward.
31. Dasgupta, Rohit. "We must not turn our back on BAME communities to gain votes elsewhere". Labour List.
32. Bickerton, James (14 March 2018). "Hackney Mayor joins lecturers on picket line". Hackney Post.
33. King, Jon (18 June 2019). "Canning Town councillor calls for unity to defeat homophobia and stop hate crime". Newham Recorder.
34. Nye, Catrin (30 August 2019). "Protest leaflets claim relationship education teaches infants masturbation". BBC News.
35. "Hampshire East parliamentary constituency". BBC News.