Mukul Roy passed away on Sunday night at a hospital in Kolkata. He was 73 and had been suffering from multiple ailments for a prolonged period. He had long been a close associate of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The leader was known as the “Chanakya” of Bengal politics for his organisational skills and strategic acumen. He was often regarded as the second-in-command in the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). Later, the leader switched to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Mukul Roy was born on April 17, 1954 in Kanchrapara in the district of North 24 Parganas in West Bengal. Roy completed his graduation in BSc from the Calcutta University. Later in 2006, he earned a degree of MA in public administration from Madurai Kamaraj University.
Mukul Roy made his political mark with the All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) and was considered a close associate of West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC Chief Mamata Banerjee. He joined BJP after his name came up in the Saradha scam and had a fall out with Banerjee.
Mukul Roy started his political career with Youth Congress and became close to Mamata Banerjee who was also a Youth Congress leader at that time. Later, Roy and Banerjee, along with other leaders, broke away from the Congress to form the All India Trinamool Congress in January 1998.
Roy became the face of the All India Trinamool Congress in New Delhi and was also made the general secretary of the party in 2006.
Mukul Roy made his electoral debut in 2001 when he fought the Assembly elections on a TMC ticket from Jagatdal constituency and came in second with a total of 56, 741 votes. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2006 and became the leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha for 3 years from 2009.
Under the UPA 2 government, Roy was made the Minister of State (MOS) in the Ministry Of Shipping and then later was made the MoS in the Railway ministry after Banerjee resigned. In 2012, when another party colleague, Dinesh Trivedi, who has also shifted allegiance to the BJP, was forced by Banerjee to resign as the Railway minister because of the announcement of an increase in passenger fares in the Railway Budget, Roy became the new Railway Minister.
However, Roy’s TMC career came to an end after his name cropped up in Saradha scam. His name also came up in the Narada sting operation where several politicians, including TMC leaders were involved. Following this, Roy had a fall out with the party and Banerjee. He was later suspended from the TMC for anti-party activities. He met BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Kailash Vijayvargiya before resigning from TMC.
He resigned from Rajya Sabha on October 11, 2017. Later in November 2017, Roy formally joined the BJP. Since then, he has played an instrumental role in poaching other TMC leaders for the BJP and weakening Mamata Banerjee’s party ahead of 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.
