Anil Sarkar (died 11 February 2015) was an Indian politician and member of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...

. He was a nine-term member of the

Tripura Legislative Assembly The Tripura Legislative Assembly or Tripura Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tripura, with 60 Members of the Legislative Assembly. The present Assembly is located in Gurkhabasti. Ujjayanta Palace in Agartala ser ...

representing the Pratapgarh assembly constituency.

Political career

Sarkar completed his post-graduation in

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second m ...

from the Calcutta University, West Bengal. In 1956 he joined the

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

and later in 1964, when the

was established, he joined the CPI(M). A staunch Communist, Sarkar was first elected to the Tripura Legislative Assembly from the Teliamura (Vidhan Sabha constituency) in 1972 on a Communist Party of India (Marxist) ticket and defeated his opponent Bir Chandra Barman by about 1600 votes. In the next assembly election of 1977 Sarkar changed his constituency to the

Pratapgarh (Vidhan Sabha constituency) Pratapgarh is one of the 60 Legislative Assembly constituencies of Tripura state in India. It is in West Tripura district and is reserved for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes. It is also part of West Tripura Lok Sabha constituenc ...

and won against the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

candidate Madhusudan Das by about 7500 votes. In the next election of 1983 Sarkar again defeated Madhusudan Das from the Indian national congress by about 5000 votes. In the 1988 assembly election, Sarkar took on the Indian National Congress' Madhusudan Das, whom he had defeated in the 1977 and 1983 election. The result was the same and Sarkar won by a margin of about 2500 votes. This win sent him for the fourth time to Tripura's lower house. By the time the 1993 assembly election took place, Sarkar was already a four-term MLA and defeated congress's Madhusudan Das by about 7000 votes. In the 1998, 2003, and 2008 Tripura assembly election, Sarkar held the seat defeating Narayan Das and Bimal Chandra Barman of the Indian National Congress. The 2013 election was his last; he defeated Ranjit Kumar Das of the Indian National Congress by a margin of about 2000 votes.

Personal life

Sarkar was an acclaimed poet, writer, and intellectual. He authored 24 books and received numerous literary awards. In 1971, he was credited with helping provide relief and shelter in Tripura to hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing from the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

. He and his wife had a son. Sarkar died on 11 February 2015 after a long illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarkar, Anil 2015 deaths Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from Tripura Tripura MLAs 1972–1977 Tripura MLAs 1977–1983 Tripura MLAs 1983–1988 Tripura MLAs 1988–1993 Tripura MLAs 1993–1998 Tripura MLAs 1998–2003 Tripura MLAs 2003–2008 Tripura MLAs 2008–2013 Tripura MLAs 2013–2018