Manik Sarkar was born into a middle-class family. His father, Amulya Sarkar, worked as a tailor, while his mother, Anjali Sarkar, was a State and later Provincial government employee. 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. 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. 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. 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 Party.
Political career
Six years after being selected in the CPI State Committee, Sarkar was included in the party state 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. At around the same time, he was appointed as the Chief Whip of the CPI. His success as the Member of the Legislative Assembly returned in 1983, when he was elected to the Assembly from Krishnanagar, Agartala. When the Left Front government took control in 1993, Sarkar was appointed as the State Secretary of the CPI. The biggest success came to Sarkar in 1998. At the age of 49, he became a member of the politburo of the CPI, which is the principal policy-making and executive committee in a Communist party. 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 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. 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 per month as allowance.
