The curtains have fallen on the life of one of West Bengal’s most shrewd political tacticians. Mukul Roy, the veteran leader who was instrumental in ending the 34-year Left rule and later helping the BJP gain a foothold in the state, breathed his last in Kolkata on Monday. He was 71.
His son, Subhranshu Roy, confirmed the news, stating that his father suffered a massive cardiac arrest after being in a coma for several days. Roy had been largely withdrawn from active politics since 2023 due to a debilitating battle with dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
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The Rise of a Kingmaker: Founding the TMC
Mukul Roy’s political journey began in the Youth Congress, where he became a trusted lieutenant of Mamata Banerjee. In 1998, he was a key figure in the group that broke away from the Congress to form the All India Trinamool Congress.
As the party’s General Secretary, Roy was the “backroom engine” of the TMC. While Banerjee was the public face and the orator, Roy was the one building the grassroots network, booth by booth, across the districts of Bengal.
The ‘Chanakya’ Strategy: 2011 and 2019
Roy’s moniker, “Chanakya,” was earned through his ability to orchestrate mass defections and engineer electoral victories.
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2011: He was the architect of the TMC’s historic win over the Left Front.
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National Role: He served as the Union Railway Minister in 2012, replacing Dinesh Trivedi, and was the TMC’s primary troubleshooter in New Delhi.
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The 2019 Breakthrough: After joining the BJP in 2017, he helped the saffron party win a record 18 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal in 2019, fundamentally altering the state’s political bipolarity.
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Controversies: Saradha, Narada, and the Fall Out
Roy’s career was not without deep shadows. His relationship with Mamata Banerjee soured as his name surfaced in two of Bengal’s biggest scams:
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Saradha Chit Fund Scam: He was summoned by the CBI in 2015, leading to his removal as the TMC general secretary.
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Narada Sting Operation: Video footage allegedly showed several TMC leaders accepting cash; Roy was a central figure in the subsequent investigations.
These legal battles eventually pushed him toward the BJP, where he sought a fresh political lease, though his influence there began to wane after the 2021 Assembly elections.
Reality Check
Mukul Roy was hailed as a “Chanakya,” but his final years were marked by political irrelevance and legal confusion. Still, his return to the TMC in 2021 was viewed by many as a move for “protection” rather than political passion. In fact, his battle with dementia became tragically public when he made contradictory statements about which party he actually belonged to, leading to a protracted anti-defection battle in the courts.
The Loopholes
In 2025, the Calcutta High Court disqualified Roy as an MLA for defecting from the BJP to the TMC. In fact, he had remained a BJP MLA “on paper” for years while sitting on the TMC benches. Therefore, the Supreme Court’s interim stay on his disqualification allowed him to technically die as a member of the assembly. Still, the “Tenth Schedule” loophole—where Speakers often delay decisions on defections—was something Roy himself used and eventually became a victim of.
What’s Next
Mukul Roy’s body will be taken to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly at 12 PM today for leaders to pay their final respects. Then, his mortal remains will be brought to his residence in Kanchrapara. Finally, his last rites will be performed later this evening, marking the end of a four-decade-long career that defined the modern “art of the deal” in Indian state politics.
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