Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday issued a statement mourning the death of Mukul Roy, a senior politician from West Bengal, who had served with both the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Prime Minister, while sharing a condolence message this morning on his official X handle, also shared an old picture of himself with Roy, during the latter’s stint with the BJP from 2017 to 2021.
“Pained by the passing of former Union Minister Shri Mukul Roy Ji. He will be remembered for his political experience and efforts to serve society. Condolences to his family and supporters. Om Shanti,” the Prime Minister said in his social media message.
Trinamool Congress’ general secretary and Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee, issued a condolence message acknowledging Roy’s contribution as a founding pillar of Trinamool Congress.
“The demise of Mukul Roy marks the end of an era in Bengal’s political history. A veteran leader with vast experience. His contributions helped shape an important phase of the state’s public and political journey. As a founding pillar of the All India Trinamool Congress, he was instrumental in expanding and consolidating the organisation during its formative years. His dedication to public life will be recalled with admiration. I extend my sincere sympathies to his family, friends, and admirers. May his soul be granted eternal peace,” Abhishek Banerjee said.
Similarly, the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, who was also, like Roy, once an important leader in Trinamool Congress, first as a Lok Sabha member and then as a party legislator and a heavyweight member of the West Bengal cabinet, also issued a statement mourning the death of Roy.
“Deeply disheartened to learn about the sad demise of Senior Politician, Shri Mukul Roy. My sincere condolences to his family. Praying that his soul attains eternal peace. Om Shanti,” Adhikari said in his social media message.
Youth CPI(M) leader and the party’s state committee member in West Bengal, Satarup Ghosh, has also issued a condolence message, reminding that Roy had the honesty to acknowledge once that in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress and BJP were two sides of the same coin.
Senior politician Mukul Roy, a former Union Railway Minister, died early Monday morning at a private hospital in Kolkata. He was 73.
Roy breathed his last a little after 1.30 a.m. on Monday, confirmed his son, Subhranshu Roy. He was under treatment for quite some time because of several medical complications, and he was not even responding to the treatment, according to his close associates.
Roy was once the second-in-command in Trinamool Congress as the party’s general secretary and the closest confidant of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He was among the first nine leaders who approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) to form a new political party — Trinamool Congress — in the late nineties, which Mamata Banerjee founded after she parted ways with Congress.
(IANS)
