Mukul Roy, Former Railway Minister, Passes Away at 71

Exam-focused facts from the 24 February 2026 current affairs briefing.

Key facts

Veteran politician and former Railway Minister Mukul Roy passed away at the age of 71 following a cardiac arrest in Kolkata.
He was widely referred to as the Chanakya of Bengal politics and represented the Krishnanagar Uttar seat in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
Roy served as the 32nd Railway Minister of India and was a two-time member of the Rajya Sabha representing West Bengal.
He was one of the founding members of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) at the time of its formation in 1998.
He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2017 and successfully contested the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections under the party banner.
He held the portfolio of Railway Minister in 2011 under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-2 government.