Former students of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) have written to the administration of the institute expressing concern over the participation of former Bastar Inspector-General S. R. P. Kalluri at a seminar being organised on campus.
He is scheduled to speak at a seminar on “Nationalistic Journalism in Current Perspective”, organised by Media Scan, on Saturday.
‘Hullabaloo’
Stating that the institute is currently on a summer break, IIMC Director-General K.G. Suresh said, . “I don’t understand what the hullabaloo is all about. There will be no students at the seminar nor will our faculty be a part of it. Over the years, several media organisations have used our infrastructure to organise seminars that have nothing to do with the curriculum.”
The alumni, in their letter, said the institute must prevent any individual known for his brazen contempt for journalists from using the premises that has produced housands of media professionals. “Though we don’t dispute a citizen’s right to speak on any issue of public importance at IIMC, we believe the institute should deny this right to the likes of Mr. Kalluri, who love to hate the media and mediapersons for the only reason that they do what they are duty-bound to do.”
Meanwhile, the Delhi chapter of the Bastar Solidarity Network appealed to all democratic forces, individuals and organisations to join a protest outside IIMC against Mr. Kalluri’s scheduled participation.
The organisation said the Chhattisgarh government was forced to remove Mr. Kalluri from his position as Bastar I-G earlier this year after receiving flak from the National Human Rights Commission.
