Former railway minister Mukul Roy dies at 69: Bengal’s ‘Chanakya’ who shaped TMC and BJP politics

Mukul Roy, a founding figure of the Trinamool Congress and a former Union minister who once stood at the centre of Bengal’s political churn, died of cardiac arrest at 1:30 am on Sunday at Apollo Hospital in Salt Lake, Kolkata. He was 69. His son Subhranshu Roy confirmed the death, saying the veteran leader had been battling multiple health complications and dementia in recent years.

Speaking to Aaj Tak Bangla, an emotional Subhranshu 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."

Roy had been in and out of hospital over the past two years as his condition worsened. He had reportedly lost the ability to recognise close family members and was being fed liquid food through a Ryle’s tube. He had slipped into a coma days before his death. His last rites will be performed on Monday after his body is brought home, Aaj Tak Bangla reported.

From Mamata’s confidant to BJP strategist

A co-founder of the Trinamool Congress in 1998, Roy was widely regarded as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s most trusted lieutenant during the party’s formative years. Often described as the “Chanakya of Bengal politics” for his organisational skills, he rose to become the party’s national general secretary.

He played a pivotal role in the Trinamool Congress’s rise to power in 2011, ending 34 years of Left rule in West Bengal. In the UPA II government, Roy first served as Minister of State for Shipping and later as Railway Minister between March and September 2012.

However, his equation with Banerjee deteriorated after his name surfaced in the Saradha chit fund scam and he was caught in a sting linked to the Narada case. In 2015, he was removed as the party’s general secretary.

A dramatic switch — and return

In 2017, Roy stunned Bengal’s political landscape by joining the BJP, months ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He became a key architect of the BJP’s expansion in the state, helping it win 18 of 42 parliamentary seats in 2019 and emerge as the principal opposition.

He contested the 2021 Assembly elections on a BJP ticket and won from Krishnanagar. But his influence in the party gradually diminished. A month after Suvendu Adhikari became Leader of the Opposition, Roy returned to the Trinamool Congress in June 2021. Welcoming him back, Mamata Banerjee said, “Mukul is an old boy of our family. Old is always gold.”

His second stint in the party, however, was overshadowed by his declining health. In 2023, during a visit to Delhi, he publicly claimed he was still a BJP MLA, bringing his battle with dementia into the spotlight. In 2025, the Calcutta High Court disqualified him as a legislator, ruling that his rejoining the TMC violated the anti-defection law.

Roy’s death marks the end of a turbulent political journey that saw him shape, shake and return to the party he helped build.