West Bengal : Senior TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee passes away

Senior Trinamool Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee passed away on Thursday. He breathed his last in a government hospital in Kolkata. He was undergoing treatment for heart related ailments for a long time. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee gave this information. Bengal’s Panchayat Minister Mukherjee was 75 years old. His family consists of his wife. Mukherjee was in charge of three more departments. Another state minister, Firhad Hakim, said the senior Trinamool Congress leader had undergone ‘angioplasty’ earlier this week and died at 9:22 pm after suffering a heart attack. The Chief Minister was performing Kali Puja at her Kalighat residence, she went to the SSKM Hospital and announced that Mukherjee had passed away. She said, ‘I can’t believe that she is no longer with us. He was a dedicated leader of the party. This is a personal loss for me.

Mamata Banerjee said that Mukherjee’s body would be taken to Rabindra Sadan, the government auditorium, where people would be able to pay tribute to him on Friday. After this the body would be taken to Ballygunge and then to his ancestral residence, he said. Sources said Mukherjee was admitted to the hospital on October 24 after suffering from breathing problems. Mukherjee had an ‘angioplasty’ on November 1 and two stents were inserted in the arteries of his heart.

He was suffering from diabetes, lung disease and other old age ailments. After being arrested and jailed in the Narada sting tape case, the former Kolkata mayor was hospitalized in May with similar ailments. He was out of jail on bail.

Notably, Mukherjee was a rising Congress leader in West Bengal during Indira Gandhi’s second term as prime minister in the 1970s. He formed a trio along with two other Congress leaders, Somen Mitra and Priyaranjan Dasmunshi. Mukherjee and Mitra had joined the Mamata Banerjee-led party in 2010 and 2008 respectively. Mitra returned to his old party in 2014, while Mukherjee remained in the Trinamool Congress. Dasmunshi passed away in 2017 and Mitra passed away in 2020.

Mamta Banerjee said, ‘I have faced many calamities in my life but this is a big setback. I don’t think there will be another person like Subrata da who will be so good and hardworking. The party and his constituency (Ballyganj) was his soul. I will not be able to see Subrata da’s body. He said, ‘This evening the principal of the hospital told me that Subrata da is fine and he is going back home tomorrow. Doctors tried their best.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also condoled his death. “It is a big loss for West Bengal. Looks like I’ve lost my big brother. A few days back, I had gone to the hospital to inquire about his health and spoke to him. This is a big loss for Indian politics.

West Bengal BJP President Dr Sukanta Majumdar described Mukherjee’s death as the end of a great era in Bengal politics. “It’s definitely very sad,” he said. He was the youngest cabinet minister in the government of Siddhartha Shankar Ray. From then till today he was a popular leader. may his soul rest in peace.’ Senior CPI(M) leader and former Kolkata Mayor Vikas Ranjan Bhattacharya said he was a leader of the past. He was always a smiling person and an intelligent politician. We may have some differences but I consider him one of the best Bengal leaders ever.