Senior TMC leader and West Bengal minister Subrata Mukherjee will go down in history as a man for all seasons who sailed through the state’s politics both as a deft politician and an able administrator for more than 50 years.
75-year-old Mukherjee, who held the panchayat and rural development portfolios, passed away after prolonged illness at a state-run hospital in Kolkata on Thursday evening.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was among those who visited SSKM Hospital after the Trinamool Congress leader breathed his last. “He was likely to be discharged from the hospital tomorrow. He suffered cardiac arrest and passed away,” Ms. Banerjee said. She described Mr. Mukherjee death as a “great loss” .
Mr. Mukherjee, who was a key Minister in the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet, was 75. He held several portfolio including the Panchayat department. He started his career with the Congress, and was one of the youngest Ministers in the Congress government led by Siddhartha Sankar Ray at the age of 26. He was also Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation from 2000 to 2005.
His body will be taken to Rabindra Sadan, a government-owned auditorium, on Friday for people to pay their last respects. From there, it will be taken to his Ballygunge home and then to his ancestral home, Mamata added.
Sources in the hospital said the minister had a ‘stent thrombosis’, one of the fatal complications of percutaneous coronary intervention.
“I have faced many disasters in my life but this is a very big blow. I do not think there will be another man like Subrata da, who was such a nice and hard-working person. The party and his constituency (Ballygunge) were his soul,” the CM said.
Mukherjee was the information and cultural affairs minister in the Siddhartha Shankar Roy cabinet from 1972 to 1977. Having completed 50 years in politics in the assembly election this time, Mukherjee also had the experience of working with Indira Gandhi. Considered close to her, it was during the Emergency (1975 to 1977) that he was handling the information and cultural affairs department.
He had been suffering from high blood sugar, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other age-related ailments. He was hospitalised with similar ailments in May, after he was arrested and sent to jail in connection with the Narada sting tape case. He was out on bail.
He was popular across all parties in Bengal politics. State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury condoled his death. “This is a big loss for West Bengal. It feels like I have lost my elder brother. A few days back, I went to see him in the hospital and spoke to him. It’s a big loss for Indian politics,” he said.
State 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 was the youngest cabinet minister in the Siddhartha Shankar Ray government. From then till today, he was a popular politician. May his soul rest in peace.”
Senior CPI(M) leader Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya said, “He is a politician of the bygone era. He has always been a smiling personality and an intelligent politician. We may have certain differences of opinion but I consider him as one of the best politicians of Bengal I have ever seen.”
