KolkataDecember 16, 2025 05:58 PM IST
First published on: Dec 16, 2025 at 05:58 PM IST
A long-time confidant of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and one of the founding members of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aroop Biswas resigned as West Bengal’s Sports Minister on Tuesday in the aftermath of December 13 chaos that erupted during football superstar Lionel Messi’s visit to Kolkata to ensure an “impartial investigation” into the matter.
While the CM said in a statement that she would handle the portfolio, Biswas will continue as the Power and Housing minister. His resignation from the Sports Department comes close on the heels of the Bengal government suspending the Youth Affairs Secretary over the issue.
Known for his consistent electoral record, Biswas began his political journey with the Congress’s student wing at the New Alipore College in Kolkata though his father was an active CPI(M) worker. In 1998, he followed Mamata out of the Congress as she floated the TMC.
Biswas first won the Tollygunj Assembly seat in 2006 and has retained it since. Tollygunge in South Kolkata is where the Bengali film industry, popularly known as Tollywood, is based. Biswas’s brother Swaroop is the president of the influential Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India, making the brothers the TMC’s links to the Bengali entertainment industry.
After the TMC stormed to power in 2011, ending the Left’s 34-year rule, Aroop was inducted into the Cabinet as the Minister of State for Youth and Housing.
In 2013, his influence within the party significantly grew after senior leaders such as Mukul Roy and Madan Mitra got embroiled in an alleged chit fund scam. Following this, he came to be seen as one of Mamata Banerjee’s trusted aides.
Biswas is also associated with the Suruchi Sangha Sarbojonin Durga Puja Committee, one of the few pandals that the CM herself inaugurates every year. The club also has a football team that competes in the Calcutta Football League.
Following the chaos at the Salt Lake Stadium, Biswas found himself at the receiving end of an online backlash and internal party criticism as images of him around Messi started doing the rounds on social media. It generated a lot of heat for the TMC amid accusations that VIP access and photo-ops were prioritised over crowd management.