Former Union minister and veteran Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi died on Monday around about 12.10pm after being in coma since October 12, 2008. He was 72.
One of the most important qualities of Dasmunsi was that he was an articulate speaker. His speeches at public meetings kept members of the audience captivated.
He was the first Indian Youth Congress president in West Bengal in 1970-71. In 1985, he was made minister of state of commerce. He was inducted into the cabinet as minister of parliamentary affairs and information and broadcasting from 2004 to 2008, during the first term of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
A genuine football enthusiast, he had been the president of All India Football Federation for nearly two decades.
CM Mamata Banerjee, in a Twitter message on Monday said, “I am deeply saddened by the death of Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi. It is a great loss. May his sole rest in peace.”
The Bengal government also declared a half day holiday at all government offices in respect of the senior leader. Before leaving Nabanna, the state secretariat Mamata had said Dasmunsi’s body would be brought to Kolkata on Monday night and would be cremated with full state honours at a place of his family’s choice.
The seniormost member of Banerjee’s cabinet, Subrata Mukherjee, was known for his proximity to Dasmunsi. “I had lost my father once. Today, I feel I have been orphaned once again. I sought his guidance in almost everything, political and personal,” he said.
Sitting CPI(M) MP from Dasmunsi’s turf, Raiganj, said people of his constituency were still fond of him. “He was a master of data-based and logical debates. He was known for creating personal relationship with everyone, including political rivals,” Salim said.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP and former state Congress president Pradeep Bhattacharya described him as an expert crisis manager. “Whenever the party was in a crisis, it could fall back on him,” he said.
