Mukul Roy, the veteran politician and co-founder of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), passed away on Monday, February 23, 2026, at a private hospital in Kolkata. Often referred to as the “Chanakya of Bengal politics” for his peerless organizational skills and backroom strategy, the 71-year-old former Union Railway Minister died at 1:30 a.m. after suffering a massive cardiac arrest. His son, Subhranshu Roy, confirmed that his father had been battling multiple chronic health issues, including dementia and Parkinson’s disease, and had recently slipped into a coma. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed deep grief, describing Roy as a “long-time political colleague and comrade-in-arms” who was instrumental in the party’s formative years and its historic victory over the Left Front in 2011.
Throughout his four-decade career, Roy was celebrated as the ultimate troubleshooter, known for his ability to build party machinery from the ground up and navigate complex alliances in both Kolkata and New Delhi. Though he was once the undisputed second-in-command of the TMC, his political journey took a dramatic turn in 2017 when he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), where he played a pivotal role in the saffron party’s rise in West Bengal during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He famously returned to the TMC in 2021, though his final years were marked by failing health and a gradual withdrawal from the public eye. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders across the political spectrum have paid tribute to his vast experience, noting that his death marks the end of a significant era in the state’s political history.
