DD News's Swagat Ghosh shunted out to RNI

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent
The recent Dera Sacha Sauda controversy in Punjab got extended to Doordarshan. It's not often that one who brings home the daily dose of news to millions becomes news himself. But that is what has happened to Doordarshan director-general of news, Swagat Ghosh, who has been unceremoniously plucked out of his position and banished to the inconspicuous Registrar of Newspapers of India (RNI) office.

The Information and Broadcasting ministry has relieved Ghosh within hours of DD airing a news item about certain Congress leaders having close connections with the Dera head.

The move has taken even seasoned observers by surprise. After all, it was only in November last that Ghosh was hand-picked by I&B minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi amidst Doordarshan's great restructuring plan to head the news department. Ghosh, an Indian Information Services (IIS) officer, was seen as one who could lead the channel to new heights.

Intriguingly, this is not the first time that Ghosh has had to make an exit from Doordarshan. In 2003, he was evicted from the post of additional director general (news) by the NDA government and made the chief of the Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity.

So, it's yesterday once more. But not many would have seen that a lost election could cost Ghosh his job. Well, it happens only in India.