- Former Union Railway Minister Mukul Roy died at 71 in Kolkata after prolonged illness
- Roy was a founding member of the All India Trinamool Congress and close to Mamata Banerjee
- Roy left TMC in 2017, joined BJP, won 2021 assembly election, and rejoined TMC in 2021
Former Union Railway Minister Mukul Roy died early Sunday at a private hospital in Kolkata after a prolonged illness. The veteran West Bengal politician was 71.
A founding member of the All India Trinamool Congress, Roy was among the key organisers of the party in its early years. He was considered a close associate of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Roy had been undergoing treatment for multiple ailments, including kidney-related complications. According to his son, Subhrangshu Roy, he suffered a heart attack around 1:30 am and could not be revived.
Who Was Mukul Roy?
Mukul Roy was born on April 17, 1954, in West Bengal. He acquired a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Calcutta and later earned a Master's degree from Madurai Kamaraj University.
He began his political career in the Youth Congress and developed close working ties with Mamata Banerjee. In 1998, when Banerjee broke away from the Indian National Congress to form the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), Roy became one of its founding members.
In the 2001 West Bengal Assembly election, he contested from Jagatdal as a TMC candidate but lost. In April 2006, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha, where he later served as a leader of the TMC parliamentary party.
During the second United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Roy was appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Shipping. After Mamata Banerjee resigned as Railway Minister to become Chief Minister of West Bengal, she recommended Roy to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to retain the Railways portfolio for the party. Roy was subsequently appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways.
In July 2011, after a train derailment in Assam, Mukul Roy did not follow the Prime Minister's directive to visit the site and was removed from the Railways portfolio.
In 2012, he became Railway Minister after Dinesh Trivedi resigned over a fare hike. Roy rolled back the increase. His tenure ended in September 2012 when the TMC withdrew support from the UPA government.
Differences between Roy and the TMC leadership came up in 2015 when his name came up in the Saradha chit fund case and the Narada sting operation. In September 2017, he resigned from the TMC and was later suspended from the party for six years. A month later, he resigned from the Rajya Sabha.
In November 2017, Roy joined the BJP. He contested the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election as a BJP candidate and won.
In June 2021, he rejoined the TMC.
In January 2022, his lawyer told the Assembly Speaker that Roy was still with the BJP and had not rejoined the TMC. The Speaker rejected a plea to disqualify him under the anti-defection law.
In November 2025, the Calcutta High Court cancelled his MLA membership on the grounds of defection.
