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From the days of the Singur and Nandigram movements to the party’s rise to power in West Bengal, Roy played a crucial role alongside Banerjee
Mukul Roy. (Image: PTI/File)
Senior politician and former Railways Minister Mukul Roy passed away at 1.30am on Sunday night at a hospital in Kolkata. He was 73 and had been suffering from multiple ailments for a prolonged period.
Roy had long been a close associate and trusted confidant of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. 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). From the days of the Singur and Nandigram movements to the party’s rise to power in West Bengal, Roy played a crucial role alongside Banerjee.
Roy served as minister of state in the Ministry of Shipping and later in the Ministry of Railways during the second United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. After Mamata Banerjee resigned as Railway Minister to become chief minister of West Bengal, Roy was given additional charge of the Railways Ministry. Banerjee had expressed her desire for the TMC to retain the Railways portfolio and personally recommended Roy to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Before the formation of the TMC, Roy was a member of the Indian National Congress. In 2017, he distanced himself from the Trinamool Congress and resigned from the party on September 25 that year. He was later suspended for six years for anti-party activities and resigned from his Rajya Sabha membership on October 11, 2017. Subsequently, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), remaining with the party from 2017 to 2021.
He contested the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections as a BJP candidate but returned to the TMC after the results were announced. On June 11, 2021, he rejoined the Trinamool Congress in the presence of Mamata Banerjee, along with his son.
On November 13, 2025, the Calcutta High Court terminated his membership as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) on grounds of defection.
During his political career, Roy was also questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Saradha chit fund case.
With his passing, West Bengal politics has lost one of its most influential strategists and a key architect of the Trinamool Congress’s organisational strength.
February 23, 2026, 07:42 IST
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