Above: Priya Ranjan Das Munshi

One of Indian National Congress’ most respected leaders, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, is no more. In coma following a massive heart attack in 2008, the former Union Minister and Congress Parliamentary party chief passed away at a New Delhi hospital on Monday (November 20) at age 72.

He had recently been shifted to the Apollo Hospital, with his condition deteriorating and a hospital statement said: “He died at 12.10 pm today (Monday). He had been critically ill for the past one month and unfortunately succumbed to his illness.”

Das Munshi, Priya’da to all, was a heart patient and was advised by the doctors not to involve in heavy physical activity. During the Kolkata pujas of that year, however, he had defied the doctors’ advice and had gone to a puja pandal and had even participated in a traditional dance with incense. He had suffered a massive heart attack soon after and blood supply to a section of his brain was so affected that it atrophied, leaving him in a vegetative state. He had to be fed via artificial means and even his breathing was with mechanical help.

He is survived by wife Deepa Das Munshi and son Priyadeep.

Das Munshi was an almost permanent winner from the Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency. This is the same constituency where Deepa fights.

Following his bright academic career, Das Munshi joined the Indian Youth Congress and soon graduated to earning a ticket to the Lok Sabha constituency in 1971. Of the several Union portfolios he held (starting in 1985), it was his stint as Parliamentary Affairs Minister as well as his stint as Chief Whip of the party that brought out the best in him. Also in the limelight was his two decades as the head of the All India Football Federation (AIFF). During his time, even as the country’s footballing fortunes did not really soar, the national league was instituted which Das Munshi kept alive with sponsorship that was rare in those days of thrift.

Das Munshi was so popular in political circles in Kolkata that during the 2016 campaign for the assembly elections he was included in the 90-member campaign committee for the state, despite him being in coma.

His popularity extended beyond the Congress. Current West Bengal chief minister used to call him her political mentor and on several occasions when Mamata had had tiffs within the Congress (when she was a member of the Congress), it was left to Das Munshi to patch up things. Mamata said on Monday that Das Munshi would be accorded a state funeral in Kolkata, though she has left the final arrangements to the Congress.

With Pranab Mukherjee in retirement following his Presidentship and with Das Munshi no more, Congress is now short of two sharp brains that had held the party together for a long long time. Ironically, and while there is no connection whatsoever, Monday was a day in which the Congress Working Committee decided to elevate Rahul Gandhi to the post of president of the party. The elections that will have to be held will, of course, be a formality.

—India Legal Bureau