Mukul Roy, the one-time Chanakya of Bengali politics, has passed away. He breathed his last at 1:30 am at Apollo Hospital in Salt Lake due to a heart attack. His son Subhrangshu Roy confirmed the news. Mukul Roy had been suffering from multiple health problems for the past few years. He underwent brain surgery for hydrocephalus in 2023. In July 2024, he suffered a head injury after falling at home, which resulted in a blood clot and required surgery. In early 2023, doctors confirmed that he was suffering from dementia and Parkinson’s disease. He was also suffering from diabetes and other age-related ailments, which kept him away from active politics since 2022.
Personally, Mukul Roy came from a well-off family background. His father Hari Dev Kaushal was a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police of Delhi and his mother Anup Kaushal was a teacher. Mukul Roy’s death brings to an end an important chapter in West Bengal politics. Despite political changes and controversies, his role in reshaping the political landscape of the state is undeniable.
Mukul Roy Controversy and Political Action
When Mamata Banerjee was emerging as an opposition leader in West Bengal, Mukul became her close aide. In 1998, Mukul left the Congress along with Mamata and others to form the All India Trinamool Congress. Mukul rose rapidly within the Trinamool Congress organization and was appointed All India General Secretary in 2006. He played a key role in building the party’s grassroots network and is considered one of its main organizational strategists.
Mukul Roy was born on 17 April 1954. Mukul Roy did his BSc degree from Calcutta University and then did his MA in Public Administration from Madurai Kamaraj University in 2006.
He played a key role in the Trinamool Congress’s victory in the 2011 assembly elections, which ended the Left Front’s 34-year rule in West Bengal. Mukul Roy was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2006. He joined the Union Council of Ministers during the UPA-II government. He first served as the Minister of State for Shipping and was later appointed the Union Minister of Railways in March 2012.
Why did Mukul Roy leave Trinamool and join BJP and then return?
Mukul’s relationship with the Trinamool leadership deteriorated after his name was implicated in the Saradha chit fund scam and the Narada sting operation. He was removed from the party’s general secretary post in 2015 and finally expelled in 2017. In November 2017, he joined the BJP. The BJP appointed him as its national vice-president. Mukul played a key role in expanding the BJP’s organisational network, as did the Trinamool.
The BJP’s performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, winning 18 of the 42 seats in West Bengal, was marked as a major breakthrough in the state’s politics. He contested and won the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections from Krishnanagar on a BJP ticket. However, he returned to the Trinamool Congress soon after the 2021 election results were announced. However, he did not resign from his MLA post. As a result, despite joining the Trinamool, Mukul remained a BJP MLA in his records. He was even made the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Usually, a member of the opposition party is appointed to that post.
As a result of his change, legal proceedings were initiated under the Anti-Defection Act. Opposition leader Shuvendu Adhikari and BJP MLA Ambika Roy demanded the removal of his MLA post under the Anti-Defection Act. A case was filed in the Calcutta High Court after the Assembly Speaker refused to remove Mukul Roy from his post. In 2025, the High Court ordered the disqualification of Mukul Roy as an MLA. The post of Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee was cancelled. But later the Supreme Court stayed the order.
Mukul Roy’s total assets
His total assets were shown as Tk 50.85 lakh in his recent election affidavit.
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