Mukul Roy
Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly
Assumed office
2 May 2021
Preceded byAbani Mohan Joardar
ConstituencyKrishnanagar Uttar, Nadia
Chairman of Public Accounts Committee, West Bengal Legislative Assembly
In office
14 July 2021 – 28 June 2022
Appointed byBiman Banerjee
Preceded byShankar Singha
Minister of Railways,Government of India
In office
20 March 2012 – 21 September 2012
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh
Preceded byDinesh Trivedi
Succeeded byC. P. Joshi
Minister of State, Government of India
In office
19 May 2011 – 12 July 2011
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh
MinisterDinesh Trivedi
DepartmentMinistry of Railways
ConstituencyWest Bengal
In office
2009 - 2011
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh
MinisterG. K. Vasan
DepartmentMinistry of Shipping
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
In office
3 April 2006 – 11 October 2017
Succeeded byAbir Biswas
National Vice-President of Bharatiya Janata Party
In office
2020–2021
Personal details
Born (1954-04-17) 17 April 1954 (age 69)[1]
Kanchrapara, West Bengal, India[1]
Political partyAll India Trinamool Congress (1998-2017) (2021-Present) [2]
Other political
affiliations		Indian National Congress (until 1998)
Bharatiya Janata Party (2017-2021)[citation needed]
SpouseKrishna Roy[1]
ChildrenSubhranshu Roy
Residence(s)New Delhi
Kolkata
Alma materCalcutta University
Madurai Kamaraj University
OccupationPolitician

Mukul Roy (born 17 April 1954) is an Indian politician from West Bengal belonging to the All India Trinamool Congress. He has also served as a Minister of State in the Shipping Ministry and later Ministry of Railways during the second UPA government.[3] Before the creation of Trinamool Congress, he was a member of Indian National Congress. Between 2017 and 2021, Roy left Trinamool Congress to join Bharatiya Janata Party he again left BJP and joined AITC.

After Mamata Banerjee resigned as the Railway Minister to become the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Roy was handed additional charge of the Ministry of Railways after Mamata expressed her desire that her party retain the Ministry of Railways and personally recommended Roy to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.[4]

He had resigned from Trinamool Congress on 25 September 2017; later he was suspended from the party for six years for anti-party activities. He also resigned from Rajya Sabha membership on 11 October 2017.[5] He rejoined All India Trinamool Congress on 11 June 2021 along with his son in presence of Mamata Banerjee.[6]

Educational qualifications

He did his Bachelor of Science from Calcutta University.[7] He also earned an MA degree in public administration from the Madurai Kamaraj University in 2006.[8]

Political career

The President Pratibha Patil administering the oath as Minister of State to Mukul Roy at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on 28 May 2009.

Roy started his political career as Youth Congress leader and became close to Mamata Banerjee who was also associated with Youth Congress.

All India Trinamool Congress

Roy was a founding member of All India Trinamool Congress which was formed in January 1998 as a breakaway faction of the Indian National Congress led by Mamata Banerjee. Soon, he became the party's face in New Delhi and was made general secretary in 2006.

In 2001 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, he was TMC candidate from Jagatdal constituency and got 56,741 votes but lost.[9]

In April 2006, Roy was elected to Rajya Sabha and was a leader of All India Trinamool Congress from 28 May 2009 to 20 March 2012 in Rajya Sabha. In UPA II was appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Shipping first, then Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways when Mamata Banerjee resigned.

On 11 July 2011, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh directed Mukul Roy to visit the site of the derailment of the Guwahati-Puri Express in Assam, he openly defied him. This brought a lot of displeasure among the political circles and he was shunted out of the Railways portfolio in the latest cabinet reshuffle on 12 July 2011.[10][11][12][13]

In 2012, he was the subject of a controversy[clarification needed] regarding the Railway Budget. This happened after Mamata Banerjee expressed her discontent with the increase in passenger fares, and demanded the resignation of Dinesh Trivedi, Railway Minister.[14]

The President Pratibha Patil administering the oath as Cabinet Minister to Mukul Roy at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on 20 March 2012.

After Dinesh resigned, Mukul became the Railway Minister of India and he removed the fare hike introduced by the former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, to much criticism. With the exit of Trinamool from UPA coalition due to an allowance of 51% FDI in retail and aviation sector, Mukul Roy's tenure of railway minister came to an end in the month of September 2012.[15]

Roy ran a special train called "DU Gyan Uday Express" a Bengali worded statement, which took 1000 students of Delhi University to places like Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Goa and Bangalore during the summer break of 2012.[16][17]

An application has been submitted to the Election Commission for the formation of the new political party called All India Trinamool Congress and Mukul aide Amitabha Majumdar has been named as the President. The head office of the party is located in Dinhata, in North Bengal.[18]

Roy and Mamata had a fall out in 2015 when his name came up in Saradha scam as well as in Narada sting operation in which TMC leaders are involved.[19]

Roy was suspended from the party for six years as he met senior BJP leaders like Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya. He has resigned from Trinamool Congress on 25 September 2017. After that Roy also resigned from Rajya Sabha membership on 11 October 2017.[5][20]

Bharatiya Janata Party

Roy formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on 3 November 2017. Upon joining the party, he said that he felt proud of working under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[21] He successfully contested the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election and won.[22]

"Rejoining" Trinamool Congress

On 11 June 2021, Roy rejoined the All India Trinamool Congress along with his son Subhranshu Roy in the presence of Mamata Banerjee and others.[23] On 25 June 2021, he was elected as a member of PAC by the speaker of West Bengal Legislative Assembly and later became the chairman of the PAC on 14 July 2021.[24]

Roy set foot in Krishnanagar, his constituency. He first came to Krishnanagar Bhatjangla on 27 June 2021.[25] He was then greeted by All India Trinamool Congress activists wearing a wreath. Soon after, a quarrel broke out between All India Trinamool Congress activists over the reception of Mukul Roy.

On 19 January 2022, his lawyer told the Speaker that he is still in the BJP and he never rejoined the ruling Trinamool Congress party. Accordingly, the Speaker dismissed Roy's disqualification as legislator under anti-defection law.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Detailed Profile – Shri Dinesh Trivedi – Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha) – Who's Who – Government: National Portal of India". India.gov.in. 12 December 1977. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Mukul Roy still in BJP: Bengal assembly speaker rules on defection charge". Hindustan Times. 12 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  3. ^ "Mukul Roy takes over as the new Railway Minister".
  4. ^ "Mukul Roy losses Railways". NDTV.com. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  5. ^ a b "Mukul Roy: Long innings with Trinamool Congress over". Economic Times. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  6. ^ "BJP leader Mukul Roy, son rejoin TMC in presence of Mamata Banerjee". Indian Express. 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  7. ^ "Who is Mukul Roy?". Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  8. ^ "Mukul Roy(All India Trinamool Congress(AITC)):(WEST BENGAL) - Affidavit Information of Candidate". myneta.info. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  9. ^ "IndiaVotes AC: Jagatdal 2001". IndiaVotes. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  10. ^ "Cabinet rank eludes defiant Mukul Roy – The Times of India". The Times of India.
  11. ^ "Mukul Roy shunted out of Railways, IBN Live News". Ibnlive.in.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  12. ^ Moitra, Sumit (11 July 2011). "Revealed: Why Mukul Roy lashed out at the prime minister". DNA India. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  13. ^ "12 वीं पास मुकुल रॉय बने नए रेल मंत्री". Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  14. ^ "India railway minister denies resignation reports". BBC News. 15 March 2012.
  15. ^ "Mamata wins, Rail fares rolled back". IndiaVoice. 22 March 2012. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  16. ^ "Delhi University to send students on India Tour this July". Times of India. 19 April 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  17. ^ "Former Trinamool leader Mukul Roy quits Rajya Sabha". The Hindu. 19 April 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  18. ^ "Mukul Roy all set to form Nationalist Trinamool Congress Party?". 19 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  19. ^ "Mukul Roy Resigns Rajya Sabha Seat, Quits Trinamool Congress". NDTV. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  20. ^ Datta Sengupta, Romita (25 September 2017). "Mukul Roy expelled from Trinamool Congress for 6 years after he announces resignation". India Today. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  21. ^ "Mukul Roy Joins BJP Month After Quitting the All India Trinamool Congress". NDTV. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  22. ^ "BJP releases list of 148 candidates for Bengal polls, Mukul Roy to contest from Krishnanagar Uttar". Money Control. 3 May 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  23. ^ Singh, Shiv Sahay (11 June 2021). "Mukul Roy returns to Trinamool Congress". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  24. ^ "Mukul Roy elected as a PAC member". NDTV. 25 June 2021.
  25. ^ "তৃণমূল নেতা হিসাবে মুকুল রায় কৃষ্ণনগরে,সংবর্ধনা দেওয়া নিয়ে বিশৃঙ্খলা". Ranaghat News. 28 June 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.

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Railway Ministers of India
Bharatiya Janata Party
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