'My Biggest Mistake Was...': Suicide Note Surfaces After Ex-TMC MLA Asish Banerjee Found Dead At Bengal Party Office

Asish Banerjee, the former deputy speaker of the West Bengal assembly, was found dead during the early hours of Sunday at a Trinamool Congress office in Birbhum district's Rampurhat city. The ex-MLA's body was found hanging at the party office and was sent for a postmortem, the police said.

Asish Banerjee served as deputy speaker when Trinamool head Mamata Banerjee was chief minister. He was a five-time MLA from Rampurhat.

Banerjee resided in the Hattalapara neighbourhood in Rampurhat. A large crowd had gathered outside the party office as locals learnt about the incident. The 74-year-old TMC member served as Bengal's education and agriculture minister since Mamata Banerjee came to power for the first time many years ago.

Banerjee was a senior leader of the TMC, who served as the 13th Deputy Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly from July 2021 to May 2026. Born in Rampurhat, Banerjee had done a PhD from Burdwan University and had also served as an associate professor at Rampurhat College.

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Police Recover Death Note

Police found a one-page suicide note near the body at the Rampurhat Party office. In his final message, the former deputy speaker wrote, "No one is responsible for my death. But today I realise that entering politics was the biggest mistake of my life."

Lost To Dhruba Saha In Recent Elections

Banerjee had won five consecutive elections from the Rampurhat assembly constituency from 2001 to 2021. However, he lost the seat to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dhruba Saha in this year's assembly elections by a margin of around 24,000 votes. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), Banerjee received 87,687 votes, while Saha secured 111,920 to win the Rampurhat seat.

Banerjee Resign As Party Chairperson

In June, a month after the TMC was ousted from power in West Bengal, Banerjee had resigned as the party's chairperson for the Birbhum district core committee, although he had said that he would continue to work as a general member.

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Back then, Banerjee had accused the Birbhum district core committee under district president Anubrata Mondal of not functioning in accordance with its political tasks during the assembly elections when the BJP won six out of 11 constituencies in the district.

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