TMC Founding Member and Ex-Railway Minister Mukul Roy Dies at 71

Mukul Roy, a founding member of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and former Union Minister of State for Railways, passed away in the early hours of Monday at a Kolkata hospital. He was 71. His son Subhranshu Roy confirmed that Roy had been in a coma and hospitalised for over two years, having undergone three surgeries while battling Parkinson’s disease and multiple other ailments.

Roy’s political journey was long and eventful. A close associate of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee from the party’s founding days, he rose to serve as Minister of State in the Shipping Ministry and later the Ministry of Railways during the second UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — establishing himself as one of Bengal’s most experienced political operators.

Roy’s later years were marked by a high-profile political shift. In 2019, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, where he remained until 2021 before returning to the TMC fold. BJP leader Dilip Ghosh paid tribute to the departed leader, recalling his time in the saffron camp with warmth.

“He was an experienced politician. He became a Union Minister too. When he came to the BJP, he was given a lot of respect. For the last two to three years, he has been ill and could not actively participate in politics. I pray that his soul rests in peace,” Ghosh said.

Roy’s death marks the end of an era for Bengal’s political landscape, closing the chapter on one of the state’s most recognisable political figures of the post-liberalisation generation.