Mukul Roy Passes Away At 71: From Mamata Banerjee’s Trusted Aide To BJP Strategist And Back To TMC

Former Union Railway Minister and veteran West Bengal politician Mukul Roy passed away in the early hours of Sunday at a Kolkata hospital, closing a long political career that saw him move from being one of Mamata Banerjee's closest lieutenants to a key strategist for the BJP and then back to the Trinamool Congress fold. He was 71.

Roy died of cardiac arrest at 1:30 am at Apollo Hospital in Salt Lake, Kolkata, his son Subhranshu Roy confirmed. He had been battling serious health complications and dementia, and had slipped into a coma days before his death.

Son confirms death after cardiac arrest

Speaking to Aaj Tak Bangla, Subhranshu Roy said, "Everything is over. He died at around 1:30 pm after a massive cardiac arrest. It was not possible to bring him back after that."

Over the past two years, the senior leader had repeatedly been hospitalised as his health deteriorated steadily. He had reportedly lost the ability to recognise familiar faces and was being fed liquid food through a Ryle's tube. The family plans to perform his last rites on Monday after the body is brought to his residence.

Architect of Trinamool's early growth

Mukul Roy was among the founding members of the Trinamool Congress in 1998 and rose to become the party's national general secretary. Known for his organisational skills and backroom strategy, he earned the reputation of being the "Chanakya of Bengal politics".

He played a pivotal role in strengthening the party's structure across districts and was instrumental in the 2011 political shift when the Trinamool Congress ended decades of Left Front rule in West Bengal. During the UPA II government, he served as Minister of State for Shipping and later took charge as Railway Minister from March to September 2012.

Dramatic switch to BJP and electoral impact

In 2017, Roy made a surprising move by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, barely two years before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The switch proved politically significant. He became a major strategist, engineered defections and helped the BJP rapidly expand its organisation in the state.

His efforts contributed to the party winning 18 of West Bengal's 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and emerging as the principal opposition to the Trinamool Congress.

Roy also contested the 2021 Assembly elections on a BJP ticket and won from Krishnanagar.

Return to Trinamool and final years

However, his influence within the BJP gradually declined. He left the party a month after Suvendu Adhikari became Leader of the Opposition following his narrow victory over Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, and rejoined the Trinamool Congress.

In his final years, declining health kept him away from active politics. Frequent hospital visits and worsening medical conditions marked the last phase of a political career that spanned decades and shaped the evolution of West Bengal's contemporary political landscape.