Subrata Mukherjee
West Bengal Minister Subrata Mukherjee cremated in Kolkata with full state honours
Kolkata/IBNS/UNI: The mortal remains of veteran politician and West Bengal Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee were consigned to flames with full state honours on Friday.
The 75-year-old Panchayat Minister, Subrata Mukherjee, who held a sway in Bengal politics for decades as a Congress and later Trinamool Congress leader, passed away on Thursday after a massive cardiac arrest at Kolkata's state-run SSKM Hospital. He is survived by his wife.
Hundreds of people, followers, politicians including those from the opposition were seen in the queue to have a last view of their leader on Friday.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier condoled the passing away of her party veteran who was a Congress party stalwart before joining the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and was a political mentor of Banerjee during the 1970s.
"I have seen several disasters in my life, but Subrata da's loss is irreplaceable for me. There won't be another person like him. He was to be released from hospital tomorrow but succumbed to a massive heart attack tonight. Doctors had tried a lot to save him," Banerjee had said after visiting the SSKM Hospital.
Mukherjee started his political stint as a student activist during his higher education in Kolkata. He joined the Chhatra Parishad, a student wing of the Indian National Congress, in the 1960s.
Mukherjee was close to late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, along with the late Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi.
In 1971 and 1972, Mukherjee was elected to the legislative assembly from the Ballygunge Assembly constituency. In 1972, he was appointed as Minister of State in the Siddhartha Shankar Ray ministry as Minister of Information and Cultural Affairs. He also held an additional responsibility as Minister of State for local government.
In 1999, he joined the Trinamool Congress founded by Mamata Banerjee, breaking away from Congress.
He was made the Mayor of Kolkata in 2000, as a Trinamool Congress candidate.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he fought from Bankura and lost to Bharatiya Janata Party's Subhas Sarkar.
However, Mukherjee made a comeback with a huge margin in the 2021 Bengal Assembly polls on a TMC ticket from Ballygunge.
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