Leader of youth, champion orator and Congress’ bulwark in Bengal
NEWDELHI: When Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi became a father, he named his son Michhil (march in Bengali). He was then in his 50s. Fatherhood might have come late for Dasmunsi but he tasted political success at an early age.
He was all of 32 when he got elected to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decisionmaking body. The party was grappling with the aftermath of Emergency when Dasmunsi, a firebrand leader, emerged as its face in West Bengal. Dasmunsi’s oratory, organisational strength and youthful charm were a breath of fresh air. He was popular and soon a member of CWC.
Till he suffered a stroke while celebrating Durga Puja ignoring a heart condition, Dasmunsi was one of the two most important Congress leaders in Bengal. Pranab Mukherjee, who went on to be the President of India, was the other. While Mukherjee was the master strategist, Priyo da was the grassroots man.
Together with Subrata Mukherjee, who has since switched sides to the TMC, Dasmunsi formed a formidable “jodi” that dominated the state’s youth politics for almost 20 years. In the 70s and 80s, they often drew comparison with the successful Amitabh Bachchan-Shashi Kapoor pairing in Bollywood.
But unlike his peers, Dasmunsi’s journey didn’t stop at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground. His stage was national. A five-term MP, he became the Union minister of state for commerce in 1985 and the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha in 1999. When the Congress came to power in 2004, he joined the Union Cabinet as the minister for water resources. Next year brought a double promotion. He was given charge of information and broadcasting and parliamentary affairs.
It was in his small room in the Congress party office in Parliament that I met Dasmunsi for the first time. It was 2002. As I got up to leave, Priyo da smiled and said, “Don’t go to Pranab da (Mukherjee). He won’t give you news.” Mukherjee was then the deputy leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
Friendly as he was, Dasmunsi was a consummate politician,too. He would go through parliamentary records and dig up a remark, stirring trouble for a rival.
Mamata Banerjee, his protégée turned bitter rival, experienced it first-hand. He cultivated press by selectively leaking news on party’s floor strategy in Lok Sabha, but drew a line at Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.