Departures of note

Asish Banerjee was an Indian politician with the All India Trinamool Congress who built a long career in West Bengal state politics. He was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Rampurhat constituency five times, in 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021, establishing himself as a durable representative of the Birbhum district seat.

Banerjee served as the 13th deputy speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly during the period when Mamata Banerjee was chief minister. He also held ministerial office in the state government, first as a Minister of State with independent charge of the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, and later overseeing the Biotechnology and Statistics portfolios. In 2017 he took charge as the Agriculture Minister of West Bengal, a post he held until 2021.

Before entering politics, Banerjee was an academic, completing bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees at Burdwan University and serving as an associate professor of Bengali at Rampurhat College. He was a close aide of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee within the Trinamool Congress. He was found dead at a party office in August 2026.