West Bengal Panchayat Minister and veteran Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Subrata Mukherjee passed away at SSKM hospital in Kolkata, following a massive cardiac arrest, on Thursday, 4 November. He was 75. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the news of his death.
State minister Firhad Hakim said that Mukherjee, who underwent angioplasty early this week, died at 9.22 pm, PTI reported.
Mamata Banerjee, who broke down while addressing the press about his death, said she has never suffered such a huge loss before.
"I still can't believe he is no longer with us. He was such a dedicated party leader. It is a personal loss for me," she said.
"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. I will not be able to see Subrata da's body," she added.
Banerjee said his body will be taken to the government-owned auditorium Rabindra Sadan on Friday, so that people can pay their last respects to him. The body will then be taken to his Ballygunge home and then to his ancestral home, she added.
Hospital sources said that Mukherjee had been hospitalised on 24 October following breathing problems and underwent angioplasty, where two stents were inserted inside his blocked arteries on 1 November. He had also been suffering from high blood sugar, CoPD and other age-related ailments, PTI reported.
Mukherjee, who had joined the TMC in 2010, had also been hospitalised earlier this year in May, which came after he was arrested and jailed in connection with the Narada sting tape case. He was currently out on bail.
"This evening the principal of the hospital told me that Subrata da is fine and he will be going back home tomorrow. Doctors tried their best," Banerjee said.
Mukherjee was respected by his peers and enjoyed a long and illustrious political career, which started at a very early age. He started off as a student activist and quickly progressed to being appointed as a minister of state at the age of 26.
Tributes Pour In for Mukherjee
TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh said that he was a "striking personality, whether he was on the ruling side or when he was in the opposition."
TMC MP Derek O Brien said that he always had a distinct point of view about things.
West Bengal Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said his death was a huge 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, as per PTI.
Meanwhile, Suvendu Adhikari said he was "deeply anguished and pained" by Mukherjee's death.
"I am deeply anguished and pained by the passing away of veteran politician and a senior WB Cabinet Minister Shri Subrata Mukherjee. My thoughts are with his bereaved family members, admirers and supporters. May his soul attain eternal peace. Om Shanti"Suvendu Adhikar, Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal
Admiring his legacy, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) MP Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya called him a "to the point person" who used "his power only to serve people and not himself".
"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," he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party's West Bengal president, Dr Sukanta Majumdar, said that Mukherjee's death marked the end of a great era of 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."
(With inputs from PTI.)
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