Manik Sarkar, who was the Tripura chief minister for two decades -from March 1998 to March 2018, was often credited with being India’s poorest chief minister.
He used to give away his salary and allowances to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, which would pay him less than Rs 10,000 as a subsistence allowance to run his family.
Popularly known as ‘Manik Da’, he was known as a firebrand leader since 1970s who espoused popular causes. Born on January 22,1949, in a lower middle-class family, his father was a tailor and his mother an employee of the state health department. His wife was an officer of the central social welfare department. CM since 1998, he is known to be an honest man with a spartan lifestyle.
'Used To Donate His Entire Salary'
"Manik da, as per the party's tradition, donates his entire salary of ₹ 26,315 as the chief minister to the CPI-M fund and receives a monthly allowance of Rs 9,700 from the party for his livelihood," CPI-M leader Haripada Das had told news agency IANS in 2018.
According to reports, as of January 20, 2018, during Sarkar's final year as Tripura CM he had only Rs 1,520 in his wallet and about Rs 2,410 in his bank account.
Sarkar’s wife, a retired central government employee, also had Rs 20,140 cash and Rs 12,15,714 in her bank accounts and fixed deposits, at the time.
Because of his values and humble lifestyle, he is well respected among his peers and even by rivals. Congress leader Tapas Dey had once said, “We could not raise any questions against Manik Sarkar’s honesty and integrity. There might be some misdeeds in his government, but Manik is absolutely honest.”
