Mukul Roy, TMC Co-founder and Ex-Railway Minister, Dies at 69

Mukul Roy, a founding leader of the All India Trinamool Congress and former Union Railway Minister, passed away at 69 after suffering a cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Salt Lake, Kolkata, early Sunday. His son, Subhranshu Roy, confirmed that the veteran politician had been battling multiple health complications and dementia in recent years and had slipped into a coma days before his death. Roy had been in and out of hospital over the past two years, with his condition steadily deteriorating.

Often described as the “Chanakya of Bengal politics,” Roy was a close confidant of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and played a crucial role in the Trinamool Congress’s rise to power in 2011, ending 34 years of Left rule in the state. During the UPA II government, he served as Minister of State for Shipping before taking charge as Railway Minister in 2012. However, his relationship with Banerjee soured after his name surfaced in the Saradha and Narada controversies, leading to his removal as the party’s national general secretary in 2015.

In 2017, Roy joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and emerged as a key strategist behind its surge in West Bengal, contributing to the party’s strong performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He won the 2021 Assembly polls on a BJP ticket but returned to the Trinamool Congress months later. His later years were marked by declining health and legal challenges, including disqualification as an MLA in 2025 under the anti-defection law. Roy’s death marks the end of a turbulent yet influential political journey that significantly shaped Bengal’s political landscape.

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