Priya Dutt Roncon (born 28 August 1966) is an Indian politician and social worker. She was elected for the first time to the

14th Lok Sabha The 14th Lok Sabha (2 June 2004 – 18 May 2009) was convened after the 2004 Indian general election held in four phases during 20 April – 10 May 2004, which led to the formation of first Manmohan Singh ministry (2004–2009). Indian National ...

from Mumbai North West constituency in Maharashtra on 22 November 2005, representing the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

party. She represented the Mumbai North Central constituency in the

15th Lok Sabha Members of the 15th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2009 general election in India. It was dissolved on 18 May 2014 by President Pranab Mukherjee.Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance won 44 more seats than the previous 14t ...

from 2009. In the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and vote ...

s, she was defeated by

Poonam Mahajan Poonam Mahajan (born 9 December 1980) is an Indian politician and a former Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Mumbai North Central, Constituency, Maharashtra. She is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She has served as the Nation ...

of the BJP.

Early life and education

Priya Dutt Roncon, born as Priya Balraj Dutt is the daughter of the actor and politician

Sunil Dutt Sunil Dutt (born Balraj Raghunath Dutt; 6 June 1929 – 25 May 2005) was an Indian actor, film producer, director, and politician known for his work in Hindi Cinema. He acted in more than 80 films over a career spanning five decades and was t ...

and actress

Nargis Dutt Nargis Dutt (born Fatima Rashid, also known as Nirmala Dutt; 1 June 1929 – 3 May 1981) known mononyomusly as Nargis was an Indian actress and politician who worked in Hindi cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest and finest actresses in the ...

. She is of

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

descent and was born and raised in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. Her parents were elected to represent the

and her father was a government minister. She is the sister of actor

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor, playback singer and film producer who works in Hindi cinema in addition to a few Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Punjabi films. Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 160 films. ...

and Namrata Dutt. Music composer

Jaddanbai Jaddanbai Hussain (1 April 1892 – 8 April 1949; known professionally as Jaddanbai) was an Indian singer, music composer, dancer, actress, filmmaker, and one of the pioneers of Indian cinema. She along with Bibbo and Saraswati Devi were one ...

was her maternal grandmother, and actor Anwar Hussain was her uncle. With her sister, she published a memoir, ''Mr and Mrs Dutt: Memories of our Parents'', in 2007. She received her

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

from

Sophia College Sophia College (Autonomous) is an undergraduate women's college established in 1941 by Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is affiliated to the University of Mumbai. The governing body of The Society for the Higher Education of Women in In ...

University of Bombay University of Mumbai is a public university, public List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, state university in Mumbai. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest univ ...

. She has a Post Graduate Diploma in

television production A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

from the Center for Media Arts in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Politics

It first became obvious that Priya was her father’s successor when she accompanied him on his Mahashanti Padyatra in 1987 from Mumbai to Amritsar. In 2005, following the death of her father,

, and despite a low voter turnout, she won her seat in the Lok Sabha by a margin of 172,043 votes over the

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...

candidate. Dutt received considerable media attention for this victory, partially on account of her famous family. Since her election, Priya has been appointed secretary of the

All-India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousa ...

. In the

and

s, she was defeated by

of the BJP.

Other activities

After university, Dutt worked in television and video and studied at The Center for the Media Arts in New York. During and after the

Bombay riots The Bombay riots were a series of riots that took place in Bombay (present-day Mumbai), Maharashtra, between December 1992 and January 1993. An estimated 900 people, predominantly Muslims, were killed. The riots were mainly due to escalations ...

, Dutt worked with Muslim refugees in Mumbai. She reported receiving threatening telephone calls and public harassment. Dutt also founded the Nargis Dutt Memorial Charitable Trust (NDMCT), which was started by her father Sunil Dutt, in memory of her mother

who died from cancer in 1981.

Personal life

Priya married Owen Roncon on 27 November 2003. Roncon is a partner in Oranjuice Entertainment, a music promotion company, and Fountainhead Promotions & Events Pvt Ltd, a marketing firm. Roncon is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

from

Bandra Bandra ( æːɳɖɾa is a coastal suburb located in Mumbai, the largest city of the Konkan division in Maharashtra, India. The area is located to the immediate north of the River Mithi, which separates Bandra from the Mumbai City district. It ...

, West Mumbai. They have two sons Sumair (born 2007) and Siddharth (born 2005).

Bibliography

* ''Mr and Mrs Dutt: Memories of our Parents'', Namrata Dutt Kumar and Priya Dutt, 2007, Roli Books. ."To Mr and Mrs Dutt, with love" (review)
''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'', 7 October 2007.

References

External links

Official website
by Priya Dutt {{DEFAULTSORT:Dutt, Priya 1966 births Living people Women in Maharashtra politics India MPs 2004–2009 India MPs 2009–2014 People from Punjab, India Sophia College for Women alumni Politicians from Mumbai Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra United Progressive Alliance candidates in the 2014 Indian general election 21st-century Indian women politicians Sanjay Dutt Women members of the Lok Sabha Indian actor-politicians