Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi

Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi (Bengali: প্রিয়রঞ্জন দাশমুন্সি Prio Rônjon Dashmunshi; born 13 November 1945) was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Raiganj (Lok Sabha constituency) of West Bengal and is a member of the Indian National Congress party.

Dasmunsi was President of Indian Youth Congress in West Bengal from 1970 to 1971. He entered the Indian Parliament in 1971. He became a minister for the first time in 1985, when he was sworn in as Union Minister of State, Commerce. Within his home State, he was known for his strong anti-Left credentials.

He was the cabinet minister in Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting during the first term of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. This posting led to several controversial decisions, including several bans of Western television networks, including a three-month ban on the Sony-owned television network AXN and Fashion TV following the broadcast of programs deemed "obscene" by Dasmunsi. Dasmunsi was also responsible for the popular, if controversial, decision to require Indian sports broadcaster Nimbus Communications to share broadcast rights for Indian cricket matches with the state television network, Doordarshan — this despite Nimbus paying hundreds of millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast Indian cricket matches over four years.

Dasmunsi served as the President of the All India Football Federation for almost 20 years.

Career milestones

• In 1971, Dasmunsi won in the general from the Constituency (Lok Sabha) South Calcutta.
• In 1984, he won in the general elections from the Howrah (Lok Sabha constituency).
• In 1989, he lost in the general elections from Howrah.
• In 1991, he lost in the general elections from Howrah.
• In 1996, he won in the general elections from Howrah.
• In 1999, he won in the general elections from Raiganj (Lok Sabha constituency)
• In 2004, he won in the general elections from Raiganj (Lok Sabha constituency).

• AXN says sorry for 'obscene' TV
• "FTV banned". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 30 March 2007. 
• "The Hindu News Update Service". Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. 
• ^ "24 - Howrah Parliamentary Constituency". West Bengal. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 2009-01-12. 
• "Raignaj Lok Sabha seat 2004". West Bengal. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 2008-08-25. 

Dasmunsi was married in 1994 to Mrs. Deepa Dasmunsi, a social worker from Kolkata. They have a young son, Priyadeep Dasmunshi.

He suffered a massive stroke and paralysis on 12 October 2008, leaving him unable to speak or recognise anyone. He was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi and was later shifted to Apollo Hospital. 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 Düsseldorf, 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.

On 10 October 2011, the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Delhi advised his family to take him home and care for him there.