Ajit Kumar Panja

Ajit Kumar Panja
Ajit Kumar Panja
Chairperson of the All India Trinamool Congress
	In office; 1998–2001
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Mamata Banerjee
Member of the Indian Parliament ; for Calcutta North East
	In office; 1984-2004
Preceded by	Sunil Maitra
Succeeded by	Mohammed Salim
Union Minister of State for External Affairs
	In office; 13 October 1999 - 16 March 2001
	In office; 1 July 2002 - 13 May 2004
Union Minister of State for Coal (Independent Charge)
	In office; 8 July 1993 - 28 April 1996
Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting (Independent Charge)
	In office; 19 July 1991 - 11 March 1993
Union Minister of State for Finance
	In office; 3 January 1988 - 4 May 1989
Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting (Independent Charge)
	In office; 28 April 1986 - 2 January 1988
Union Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies
	In office; 12 March 1986 - 17 April 1986
Union Minister of State for Planning
	In office; 5 March 1985 - 21 March 1986
President of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee
	In office; 1980–1981
Preceded by	A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury
Succeeded by	Ananda Gopal Mukherjee
Constituency	Burtola
Minister for Health, Family Planning and Water Supply, Calcutta Corporation, Municipal Affairs & Forest Development ; Government of West Bengal
	In office; 2 April 1972 - 21 June 1977
Minister for Judiciary and Parliamentary Affairs ; Government of West Bengal
	In office; 5 April 1971 - 21 March 1972
MLA
	In office; 1971-1977 – 1982-1984
Preceded by	Nikhil Das
Succeeded by	Sadhan Pandey
Constituency	Burtola
Personal details
Born	13 September 1936; Kolkata, Bengal Presidency, British India
Died	14 November 2008 (aged 72); Kolkata
Political party	All India Trinamool Congress (1998-2008);
Other political; affiliations	Indian National Congress (1958-1998)
Spouse	Jaya Panja
Relatives	Ranjit Kumar Panja (Brother)
Residence(s)	Burtola, Kolkata
Website	http://www.ajitpanja.net/
	As of 30 July, 2008Source: Calcutta Yellow Pages

Ajit Kumar Panja (13 September 1936 – 14 November 2008) was a Union minister of state in the Government of India. He was a member of Indian National Congress party but left it to join Trinamool Congress. He was born in Calcutta, and studied law at the Scottish Church College, Calcutta and at the Lincoln's Inn. His Native village was a small village in Burdwan district, named Majigram. A lawyer by profession, he authored many books. He was also a stage actor who enacted the role of Ramakrishna Paramahansa in Kolkata.

Life and career

Ajit Kumar Panja was born in Kolkata on 13 September 1936. His father was Dhanapati Panja.^{[citation needed]}

Apart from political career he started performing on stage theatre in the role of "Sri Ramakrishma Paramhansa" in the play "Sri Sri Ramakrishna" (made according to the story of Noti Binodini written by Late. Brajendra Kishore Dey) organised by Kolkata High Court Advocate's Drama Association in India. The play was staged in London and USA (Washington, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles).

Ajit Panja died of oral cancer on 14 November 2008 at the Peerless Hospital.^[1]

Positions held

1971,1972-77 Member, West Bengal Legislative Assembly and 1982–84
1971-72 Cabinet Minister, Judiciary and Parliamentary Affairs (Home), West Bengal
1972-77 Cabinet Minister, Health and Family Planning and Water Supply,
1973 Member, All India Congress Committee (A.I.C.C.)
1977 President, District Congress Committee (D.C.C.) (I), North Calcutta, West Bengal
1980-81 President, Pradesh Congress Committee (P.C.C.)(I), West Bengal
1984 Elected to 8th Lok Sabha
1985-86 Union Minister of State, Planning
1986 Union Minister of State, Food and Civil Supplies
1986-88 Union Minister of State, Information and Broadcasting (Independent Charge)
1988-89 Union Minister of State, Finance
1989 Re-elected to 9th Lok Sabha (2nd term)
1990 Member, Committee of Privileges Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Finance
1990-91 Member, Committee on Public Accounts Member, Informal Consultative

Committee, Railway Zone

1991 Re-elected to 10th Lok Sabha (3rd term)
1991-93 Union Minister of State, Information and Broadcasting (Independent Charge)
1993-95 Union Minister of State, Coal (Independent Charge)
1996 Re-elected to 11th Lok Sabha (4th term)
1996-97 Member, Committee on Energy Member, Business Advisory Committee
1998 Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha (5th term) Chief Whip, West Bengal Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party
1998-99 Member, Committee on Industry Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of

Urban Affairs and Employment Chairman, West Bengal Trinamool Congress