The curious case of Mukul Roy’s ‘disappearance’

Mukul Roy, veteran politician from Bengal – who had shifted to the BJP quitting Trinamool, but had also made a ‘comeback’ public appearance in the Trinamool camp – has stirred a hornet’s nest in regional politics.

Roy went ‘missing’, and as claimed, ‘reappeared’ in New Delhi, as seen in a video projected on regional television. Roy was seen saying can’t he come to Delhi, he is an MP, and a MLA.

Roy’s son Subhranshu lodged a police complaint saying his father was ‘missing’. On Tuesday, he spoke to the media to say that his father was not well, and was being subjected to ‘dirty politics’.

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On the political front, however, things are uneasy for the Trinamool camp, with speculation in place that the leader – who has maintained a very low profile in recent months – may once again be looking back at the BJP with the intent of an active role.

Once a strong leader in Trinamool, Roy had shifted allegiance to the BJP in 2017, with one of the reasons claimed to be his growing distance with the Trinamool’s chief.

In the BJP, he became a national vice-president. After the 2021 state assembly elections, he was seen publicly “returning” to Trinamool again, though officially he is a MLA, having won on the BJP ticket.

Subhranshu, on Tuesday claimed that his father was not keeping well, mentally and physically, and suffered from different illnesses. He said that if anyone does politics with Roy in such a situation then it’s condemnable. A healthy person can go around freely with his will, but he (Roy) is not so, the son said.

Subhranshu claimed that some political parties have got down to playing “dirty politics” with Roy, and it was his personal opinion that this game was in place to malign Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool’s national general secretary.

The son claimed that an ‘agency’ had called a person asking him to offer Rs 50,000 to Roy, and claimed that he isn’t aware how Roy purchased his flight ticket. He said that he is not aware if Roy was taking his medicines, as he had remained incommunicado with him, with last communication being around 6pm on Monday.

Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that as party representative he had no comment to make on Subhranshu’s claims.