, December 5, 2005. Dasmunshi entered politics as a member of the
Chhatra Parishad, the student's wing of the state Congress unit while studying in the
Calcutta University as a protégé of veteran Congress leader
Atulya Ghosh when the state was hit with the first-wave of
Naxalite-Maoist insurgency, which saw large number of students from well-reputed colleges & universities of Calcutta abandon their studies to take up arms against the state in lines of the
people's war strategy of Naxalite ideologue
Charu Majumdar. He, alongside
Subrata Mukherjee &
Somen Mitra was the prominent militant face of the
Chhatra Parishad who clashed heads-on with the student cadres of both
CPI(M) &
CPI(ML) alike in the politically turbulent atmosphere of the state
caused by a fractured mandate in the state elections & the Naxalite insurgents. Known for his organisational capability, fiery speeches & strong
anti-Communist stance, Dasmunshi was violently assaulted by CPI(M) cadres in 1967 after a street rally in the suburbs of North Calcutta, which left him with a fractured arm, thereby cementing his image as a firebrand anti-Communist leader. Dasmunsi was made state president of
Indian Youth Congress from 1970 to 1971. He was elected from the
South Calcutta constituency in the
1971 Indian general election at the age of 26, defeating veteran Communist leader & freedom fighter
Ganesh Ghosh. He lost the seat to
Janata Party candidate Dilip Chakravarty in the
next general election. After having a fallout with
Sanjay Gandhi, Dasmunshi joined the
Congress(Urs) of
D. Devraj Urs in 1978. Following him coming 4th in the South Calcutta constituency during the
1980 Indian general election & the dismal performance of the party in
1982 state election, he returned back to the
Congress(I) in 1984 after
Indira Gandhi's murder. He was appointed as the Union Minister of State for
Commerce in 1985 by prime minister
Rajiv Gandhi after being elected from the
Howrah constituency promising re-industrialisation of the area. But his failure to keep his electoral promise saw him lose the seat in the
1989 general election. He also led a fiery campaign against the CPI(M)-led
Left Front government of the state in
1987 state election as the state PCC chief, but failed to dislodge the Communists. He again lost from Howrah in 1991, but was re-elected back from there in 1996. From 1999, he was the MP from
Raiganj constituency In 2004, in the
First Manmohan Singh ministry, he was appointed as the
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. He controversially banned television networks he deemed "obscene", including a three-month ban on the Sony-owned television network
AXN and
Fashion TV. In 2007, Dasmunsi was also responsible requiring broadcaster
Nimbus Communications to share broadcast rights for the
Indian cricket team with the state television network,
Doordarshan — this despite Nimbus paying hundreds of millions of dollars for the rights to the
Board of Control for Cricket in India. Dasmunsi served as the president of the
All India Football Federation for almost twenty years, from 1988 to 2008. He was succeeded by
Nationalist Congress Party politician
Praful Patel. Dasmushi was re-elected as the state PCC chief in 2008 & remained so until 2010, when he was replaced with
Manas Bhunia.
Electoral record • In 1971, Dasmunsi won in the general elections 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.
All India Football Federation Dasmunsi succeeded Khalifa Ziauddin as the president of the
All India Football Federation (AIFF) in December 1988. Under his leadership, the AIFF launched the
National Football League in 1996. The National Football League would be replaced by the
I-League for the
2007-08 season. The
India national football team won the
2008 AFC Challenge Cup in Delhi to qualify for the
2011 AFC Asian Cup in Doha. , April 2007. He was a member of the FIFA Technical Study Group Member in
1995 FIFA Women's World Cup held in Sweden and a Match Commissioner in
1999 FIFA Women's World Cup held in the United States. He was also the first Indian official to be appointed as a special Duty officer, at the
1998 FIFA World Cup and the
2002 FIFA World Cup. He was also the Chef`de Mission of the India Olympics Contingent at the
2004 Summer Olympics, and Match Commissioner for two World Cup Matches at the
2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. ==Personal life and death==