
Priyaranjan Dasmunsi is a member of 14th
Lok Sabha of India. He as a member of the
Indian National Congress party represents the Raiganj constituency of
West Bengal. Cabinet Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi was born on 13th November 1945 to father Late Shri Jyotirindranath Dasmunsi and mother Late Renukana Das Munsi at Chirirbander, District Dinajpur East, Bangladesh. He was educated at Raiganj College, District Uttar Dinajpur (West Bengal) and
University of Calcutta (West Bengal) and obtained his higher educations, M.A., LL.B, subsequently. He is married to Deepa Dasmunshi and the couple has one son.
His keen interest in sports led him to the positions like Chairman, Legal Committee, Asian Football Confederation (AFC); President, All India Football Federation since 1989; Vice-President, Indian Olympic Association and also became the member of (i) F.I.F.A. Standing Committee; (ii) Asian Football Confederation Technical Committee; (iii) Mohan Bagan; (iv) East Bengal; (v) Mohammadan Sporting Club, Calcutta; and (vi) Member, Court of Arbitration, FIFA. He was also the member in the Technical Study Group of FIFA in 1995 World Women Cup at Sweden. In 1999 he was the Match Commissioner of FIFA in World Women Cup. He also served special duties at World Cup (Football), France in1998 and was the First Indian to get this Privilege. In World Cup (Football), Korea-Japan, 2002 he was the Special Duty Officer and Chief`de Mission, Indian Olympics Team in 2004 at Athens, Greece. He started his career by engaging in legal profession at Kolkata High Court (1976-77 to 1984).
Political Career of Priyaranjan Dasmunshi
Priyaranjan Dasmunshi has also been the member of several Parliamentary delegations during 1971-77 and 1984-89. He also served as a member of Indian Delegation for World Peace in 1972, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has been the Leader of Indian Youth Delegation at the 10th World Youth Festival, Berlin in1973 and in 1974, was the Indian Delegate to the 17th Congress of Komsomol, Moscow. In 1975 he was the Indian Delegate to Euro-Afro-Arab Youth Conference, Baghdad and also led as Head of Indian Football Delegation to China, 1982. He attended FIFA Congresses at Spain (1982), Italy (Rome, 1990) Switzerland (Zurich, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996), U.S.A, (Chicago, 1994, Los Angeles, 1999), and France (Paris, 1998); Argulia, 2002, Qatar, 2003 and also adverted AFC Congresses at Indonesia (Bali, 1990), Hong Kong, 1992, Malaysia (Kualalampur, 1994, 1996, 1998) and Singapore, 1995.
He became a minister for the first time in 1985, when he was sworn in as Union Minister of State, Commerce. Throughout his political career he held several positions in the political arena and these in a precise form are: Member, All India Congress Committee (A.I.C.C.) ( 1970 onwards) , President, Youth Congress, West Bengal ( 1970-71) , Elected to 5th Lok Sabha ( 1971) , General Secretary, Pradesh Congress Committee (P.C.C.), West Bengal ( 1971-72) , Elected President, Indian Youth Congress( 1971-75) , Member, Public Accounts Committee( 1971-77) , Special Invitee, Congress Working Committee, Elected Member, Central Election Committee, I.N.C. ( 1977) , Elected Member, Congress Working Committee( 1977-78) , Member, C.P.B., AICC (S) ( 1979) , President, P.C.C. (S), West Bengal ( 1980) , Re-elected to 8th Lok Sabha (2nd term) ( 1984) , President, P.C.C., West Bengal ( 1985-88) , Union Minister of State, Commerce( 1985-89) , Vice-President, P.C.C., West Bengal( 1989-91) , Re-elected to 11th Lok Sabha (3rd term)( 1996) , Member, Committee on Public Undertakings, Member, CPP Executive Committee( 1998) , Working President, PCC, West Bengal, Re-elected to 13th Lok Sabha (4th term) ( 1999) , Chief Whip, Congress Parliamentary Party, Lok Sabha , Member, Committee on Railways( 1999-2004) , Member, Committee on Government Assurances, Member, Business Advisory Committee, Member, Committee on Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme, Member, Committee on Public Accounts, Re-elected to 14th Lok Sabha (5th term)( 2004) , Union Cabinet Minister, Water Resources( 23 May 2004 - onwards). Priyaranjan DasMunshi is also the President of Gan Sanskriti Sangsad, a mass cultural organization founded by Late Dr. Nihar Ranjan Roy. He was the cabinet minister in Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting during the first term of Prime Minister
Dr. Manmohan Singh.
He suffered a massive stroke and paralysis on October 12, 2008, leaving him unable to speak or recognise anyone. He remained on life support, and was diagnosed with a complete failure of the left ventricular system. In November 2009, Dasmunsi was temporarily moved to DÂsseldorf, where he underwent stem cell therapy in an attempt to reverse some of the loss of brain functions caused by the stroke. Since Dasmunsi`s hospitalization, his wife Deepa has to some extent taken over his political mantle; she was elected from Raiganj (Lok Sabha constituency) in 2009.
(Last Updated on : 18/11/2010)