Chief Minister Sarkar: India's Icon of Honesty


Bangalore: When politics is the tune that’s playing, one can’t help but notice the colossal taint in it, spoilt by corruption, mistrust, and lacking the most is faith. Can anyone defend its virtue, can’t say. But the virtue of a noble politician stands tall by the name of Manik Sarkar, Tripura’s Chief Minister.

He is India’s single Chief Minister without any house on his name or any unreasonable bank balance, not even a car. He declared he has no personal assets while submitting his nominations for the Assembly elections in 2008. In his salary he donates 12, 500 to the CPI (M) Party fund, in return gets 5, 000 as the final payout.

When he was asked about making a living on this trivial amount, he said that his wife’s pension is enough to sustain both of them. Even the idea of finding a new accommodation if asked to vacate the state house provided to the Chief Minister seems just manageable. All he says “we’ll see”.

He further informs that his expenses are small like a packet of snuff and a Charminar cigarette a day. For breakfast he has rasmalai and cashewnuts, while the music of Bhimsen Joshi, his favourite vocalist plays on the system in the bedroom, as reported by Kaushik Deka for India Today.

At sharp 10 a.m. the official vehicle picks him up, which is off limits even to his wife, Panchali Bhattacharya, a former employee of the Central Social Welfare Board. Bhattacharya retired last year from her services and now mostly commutes by rickshaw in Agartala, with no security.