Manik Sarkar

Manik Sarkar (Bengali Pronunciation: Manik Shôrkar; born 22 January 1949) is an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Tripura from March 1998 to March 2018. He is a Politburo Member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).[1][2] In March 2008, he was sworn in as leader of Left Front, the Tripura coalition government.[3] In assembly elections held in 2013, he became the chief minister for the fourth consecutive time. Currently, he serves as the Leader of Opposition in Tripura Legislative Assembly.[4]

Manik Sarkar
Sarkar in 2013
9th Chief Minister of Tripura
In office
11 March 1998 – 8 March 2018
GovernorSiddheswar Prasad
Krishna Mohan Seth
Dinesh Nandan Sahay
Kamla Beniwal
D.Y. Patil
Devanand Konwar
Vakkom Purushothaman
Padmanabha Acharya
Tathagata Roy
Preceded byDasarath Deb
Succeeded byBiplab Kumar Deb
Personal details
Born (1949-01-22) 22 January 1949
Udaipur, Tripura.
Political partyCommunist Party of India (Marxist)
Spouse(s)Panchali Bhattacharya

His affidavit for the 2018 Tripura Assembly election revealed that he is the chief minister with least possessions among all his counterparts in India.[5][6][7]

Early life and background

Manik Sarkar was born into a middle-class family.[8] His father, Amulya Sarkar, worked as a tailor, while his mother, Anjali Sarkar, was a State and later Provincial government employee.[9] Sarkar became active in student movements in his student days, and in 1968, at the age of 19, he became a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was a candidate of the Students' Federation of India throughout his academic life at MBB College, from where he graduated with a B. Com. degree.[10] During his first year at the college there came the turbulent times of the food movement of 1967, campaigning against the policy of the then Congress government of Tripura, and Sarkar threw himself headlong into the related student struggle. His vigorous role in this mass movement led him to join the Communists.[11] Due to his early political exposure, he also became the General Secretary of the MBB College Student Union and was also made the Vice President of the Students' Federation of India. In 1972, at the early age of 23, he joined the State Committee of the Communist (Marxist) Party.[10]

Political career

Six years after being selected in the CPI (M) State Committee, Sarkar was included in the party state Secretariat in the year 1978. This was also the year when the first Left Front government had taken control in Tripura.

In 1980, at the age of 31, he was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Agartala constituency. This was the start of Manik Sarkar's leadership in his state.[12] At around the same time, he was appointed as the Chief Whip of the CPI (M). His success as the Member of the Legislative Assembly returned in 1983, when he was elected to the Assembly from Krishnanagar, Agartala.[8] When the Left Front government took control in 1993, Sarkar was appointed as the State Secretary of the CPI (M).

The biggest success came to Sarkar in 1998. At the age of 49, he became a member of the politburo of the CPI (M), which is the principal policy-making and executive committee in a Communist party.[12][13] In the same year, he became the Chief Minister of the state of Tripura. Since then, he was elected to the same position for four consecutive times in 20 years[12] He is one of the very few chief Ministers in India who were in the office for so long. His party lost majority in the 2018 elections and he had to step down as a result.

Personal life

Sarkar is married to Panchali Bhattacharya, who was employed with the Central Social Welfare Board till she retired in 2011. Sarkar and his wife live a very simple life. Sarkar is the only Indian Chief Minister who does not own a personal car or a home.[14] He chooses to live in an old and a very small house that belonged to his great grandfather. He used to donate his entire salary that he received as a Chief Minister to his party and in return, got ₹10,000 (approximately $155 USD) per month as allowance.[6][15][16][17]

gollark: It's still limited to lightspeed.
gollark: * lightspeed for data, sublight for matter
gollark: * sublight
gollark: One problematic possibility is that FTL is impossible and we're stuck moving around at light speed.
gollark: Probably not, FTL is problematic.

See also
  • Manik Sarkar ministry (2013–2018)

References
  1. List of Politburo Members Archived 7 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine from the 7th (1964) to the 18th Congress(2005)
  2. List of Politburo and Central Committee members Archived 29 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine elected on the 19th Congress
  3. 6th Left Front Govt Assumes Office Archived 28 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "?Manik Sarkar, the Corrupted CM". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 25 January 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  5. https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/india/story/with-just-rs-2-410-in-bank-account-country-s-poorest-cm-manik-sarkar-turns-even-poorer-after-five-terms-1157223-2018-01-30
  6. "Manik Sarkar 'cleanest and poorest' CM". Deccan Herald. 26 January 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  7. "Manik Sarkar: Poorest CM in the country". Times of India. 26 January 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  8. "Manik Sarkar: Chief Minister (CM) of Tripura". NationsRoot. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  9. Shridhar Prasad, K. "Poorest Chief Minister Manik Sarkar". Bubble News. Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  10. "Biography of Manik Sarkar". WinEnterance.com. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 September 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "A Profile of Shri Manik Sarkar, Chief Minister, Tripura". Tripura Info. Archived from the original on 11 September 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  13. "Politburo". Merriam Webster. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  14. "Chief Minister Sarkar: India's Icon of Honesty". Silicon India. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  15. "India's poorest CM is poorer than his wife". The Hindu. PTI. 31 January 2018. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 3 March 2018.CS1 maint: others (link)
  16. "Tripura CM Manik Sarkar is one of India's poorest CMs, has only Rs 2,410 in bank account - Firstpost". www.firstpost.com. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  17. "Chandrababu Naidu is richest CM, Manik Sarkar poorest: Report - Times of India ►". The Times of India. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
Political offices
Preceded by
Dasarath Deb		 Chief Minister of Tripura
12 December 1998 – 9 March 2018		 Succeeded by
Biplab Kumar Deb
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