Former Union Railway Minister and once TMC No. 2 Mukul Roy dies at 71

Mukul Roy, a senior politician in West Bengal and former Union Railway Minister, passed away in the early hours of Monday at a private hospital in Kolkata. He was 71 and had been battling multiple health complications, including dementia. His son confirmed that Roy died of cardiac arrest at around 1.30 am.

A founding member of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), Roy began his political journey with the Youth Congress before playing a pivotal role alongside Mamata Banerjee in building the Trinamool Congress after its formation in 1998. Regarded for years as Banerjee’s closest strategist and the party’s second-in-command, he served as TMC general secretary and later became the party’s principal face in New Delhi.

Roy was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2006 and went on to lead the Trinamool Congress in the Upper House between 2009 and 2012. During the second UPA government, he held charge as Minister of State for Shipping before taking over as Union Railway Minister in March 2012, succeeding his party colleague Dinesh Trivedi.

After the TMC came to power in West Bengal in 2011, Roy was instrumental in consolidating the party, overseeing large-scale defections from the Left and the Congress.

His political career later took a turbulent turn. Following controversies linked to the Saradha and Narada cases and a growing rift with the Trinamool leadership, Roy joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2017. He played a key organisational role in strengthening the BJP’s presence in West Bengal, contributing to its strong performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He contested the 2021 assembly election on BJP ticket from Krishnanagar Uttar seat and defeated TMC’s Koushani Mukherjee. 

However, his stint with the BJP was short-lived. He returned to the Trinamool Congress in mid-2021, though declining health significantly reduced his public and political engagement. In November 2025, the Calcutta High Court disqualified him as an MLA under the anti-defection law.

The court held that his return to the Trinamool Congress violated anti-defection rules, as he had been elected in 2021 on a BJP ticket. However, the decision was not implemented immediately. In January 2026, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court’s ruling.

In his final years, Roy’s health deteriorated sharply, with repeated hospitalisations and loss of cognitive function. His last rites are expected to be performed after his body is taken to his residence.