With election statistics at your fingertips, you will get prompt particulars of all 294 meeting constituencies in West Bengal and recall imprecise particulars at will. These skills set Mukul Roy aside from different political leaders and helped remodel the Trinamool Congress (TMC) into the dominant political pressure in West Bengal because the Left collapsed.
Roy, who was as soon as Mamata Banerjee’s second-in-command, left her facet to hitch the BJP underneath the quilt of corruption allegations earlier than rejoining the TMC after the 2021 meeting elections. Died in Kolkata on the age of 71 within the early hours of Monday. Considered a superb strategist who left his mark on Bengali politics all through his tenure within the TMC and the BJP and in his later years, Roy was let down by the very sharp and calculating thoughts that had helped him rise to the highest. Paradoxically, the person who was as soon as stated to know what was occurring in each nook of the state had a tough time remembering his title in direction of the top.
Mr. Roy, born in 1954, hails from Kankrapara in North 24 Parganas district and began his political profession with the CPI(M)’s pupil wing SFI whereas finding out at Rishi Bankim Chandra College in Naihati, stated considered one of his neighbors who requested anonymity. “He then joined a youth convention. He was additionally a part of a bunch that participated in railway scrap auctions. His group organized a big Durga Puja domestically and hosted a musical program yearly.”
Roy’s first mentor in politics was Mrinal Sinha Roy, who launched him to Congress chief Somen Mitra. Nevertheless, later he collaborated with Mamata Banerjee, who was then state Youth Congress president. “Mamata Banerjee had probably the most religion in him than every other chief in south Kolkata,” stated a neighbor. “At the moment, he had no place to remain in Kolkata. He at all times took a prepare to Kolkata early within the morning. Each night, he took an area bus to Ranaghat at 10.50 pm and returned residence. This was his routine for years. I went residence with him each day. He was a very good drafter of letters and had a pointy reminiscence.”
When Mamata broke away from the Congress to type the TMC on January 1, 1998, Roy was by her facet. Roy was one of many founding members of the get together that might quickly emerge as the primary challenger to the left-wing juggernaut that had run the state for greater than 20 years on the time. Roy is nice at remembering names and faces and helped us construct the TMC group sales space by sales space and district by district. “He knew everybody’s title,” stated a buddy. Though not a mass chief, Roy wielded nice affect and his organizational management made him the second-largest energy within the get together after Mamata.
In an emotional submit on X, CM Banerjee stated she was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the sudden demise of her “long-time political colleague and co-star in lots of struggles.”
“He was my long-time political colleague and comrade in lots of political battles. I used to be heartbroken to listen to the information of his resignation. Late Mukul Roy devoted his life to the Trinamool Congress from its inception. He then went his separate methods, however his contributions and organizational acumen to Bengal’s politics can be remembered.”Regardless of get together affiliation, his absence can be felt,” she wrote.
TMC Delhi face and exit
Within the 2000s, Roy turned the face of the get together in Delhi. He was appointed get together common secretary and despatched to Rajya Sabha in 2006, the place he served as get together chief from 2009 to 2012. In 2011, when Banerjee was in search of to finish 34 years of Left rule, Roy performed a key position in forging a decisive TMC-Congress alliance.
Roy was appointed Railway Minister in March 2012, changing Dinesh Trivedi. Nevertheless, his tenure was short-lived because the TMC withdrew from the UPA-II alliance in protest towards the Centre’s approval of 51 per cent international direct funding (FDI) within the retail and aviation sectors.
Mr. Roy’s relationship with the get together he constructed from scratch hit a turmoil in 2015, quickly after his title surfaced within the Sarada chit fund case and the Narada sting (money switch case). Roy, who was interrogated by the CBI for 5 hours, addressed the media six occasions in two hours, feeling the warmth. Nevertheless, it marked the start of his departure from the get together, and the get together finally suspended him for six years in September 2017. By then, he had opened a channel of communication with the Bharatiya Janata Get together’s head of polls, Kailash Vijayvargiya, and was transferred to the Bharatiya Janata Get together in November of the identical yr.
BJP stint and return to TMC
Within the BJP too, Roy adopted the identical ways that served him properly within the TMC. He centered on strengthening the get together’s grassroots presence and recognized disgruntled TMC leaders who later joined the BJP. Amongst those that defected have been Sabyasachi Dutta, Sunil Singh, Biswajit Das, Wilson Champramary and Mihir Goswami.
Roy additionally performed a key position within the Bharatiya Janata Get together’s best-ever efficiency within the 2019 Bengal meeting elections, successful 18 of the 42 seats within the state meeting. This got here as a shock to Bengali politics because it appeared like there was a transparent risk of the BJP coming to energy within the state. Forward of the 2021 elections, Roy continued to supply suggestions to the BJP on bringing in disgruntled TMC leaders. Present opposition leaders Suvendu Adhikari, Rajiv Banerjee and Jitendra Tiwari jumped ship at this level. One of many final TMC MLAs to defect was Mamata’s shut ally and four-time Congress MP Sonali Guha, who publicly stated she had joined the Bharatiya Janata Get together on the behest of ‘Mukul Da’.
However this was not sufficient and the TMC rode the wave of help for Mamata again to energy. Roy received the Krishnanagar-Uttar seat in his first election marketing campaign, however his variations with the BJP shortly escalated, and he returned to the TMC a month after the Bengal ballot outcomes, annoyed that he was not given a nationwide position.
Nevertheless, by then he was not his former self attributable to well being issues and regularly withdrew from public life. On November 13, 2025, the Calcutta Excessive Courtroom disqualified Roy as an MLA underneath the anti-defection legislation.
