Sarat Barkotoky (1 March 1935 – 30 October 2023) was an Indian politician from the state of

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

. He was a Member of

Assam Legislative Assembly The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral Assam Legislature, legislature of the List of states and union territories of India, Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Dispur, the capital city of Assam, geographically situated in present L ...

for Sonari constituency and education minister in 2015-16. He was earlier also a

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

in the

Hiteswar Saikia Hiteswar Saikia (3 October 1934 – 22 April 1996) was an Indian politician who served as the 10th chief minister of Assam for two terms, firstly from 28 February 1983 to 23 December 1985 and then from 30 June 1991 to 22 April 1996. He was th ...

cabinet.

Early life and education

Barkotoky was born in Mathurapur,

Sonari Sonari (IPA: ˈsəʊnɑːrɪ / ) is a city and headquarters of the Sonari district (by Chief Minister Mr. Tarun Gogoi on 15 August 2015) in the Indian state of Assam. Tourist Destinations There are several unexplored destinations of touris ...

on 1 March 1935 to Chandra Barkotoky and Chandra Probha Barkotoky. He had a B.T. Examination in the year 1970 from

Dibrugarh University Dibrugarh University is a Collegiate University, collegiate public state university in the Indian state of Assam. It is the second oldest University in Assam and in North East India. It is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universitie ...

. He also had a B.A.

Political career

Barkotoky was the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

candidate for the constituency of Sonari in the 1991 Assam Legislative Assembly election. His predecessor,

Bhadreswar Buragohain Bhadreswar Buragohain (1947 – 26 February 2020) was an Indian politician from Assam belonging to Asom Gana Parishad. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha and Assam Legislative Assembly. He also served as the deputy speaker of the Assam Legislati ...

, did not seek reelection and became a Rajya Sabha MP. Barkotoky received 38877 votes, 57.96% of the total vote and became the new MLA for

. He defeated his nearest opponent by 23491 votes. He was made a minister of state in the

cabinet. After Saikia died, he retained his role as

minister of state Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

in the short

Barman A bartender (also known as a barkeep or barman or barmaid or a mixologist) is a person who formulates and serves alcoholic or soft drink beverages behind the bar, usually in a licensed establishment as well as in restaurants and nightclubs, b ...

ministry. Barkotoky sought reelection in the 1996 Assam Legislative Assembly election. He received 52052 votes, 61.8% of the total vote and defeated his nearest opponent by 31464 votes. Barkotoky was again a candidate in the 2001 Assam Legislative Assembly election. He received 59554 votes, 67.25%. He defeated his nearest opponent by 34941 votes. He was made minister for the Public Works Department in the 2001 Tarun Gogoi cabinet. As PWD minister, Barkotoky implemented a Mega project for development of road and drainage of Assam, spending 50

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

. In the

2006 Assam Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Assam in two phases between 3 and 10 April 2006 to elect members from all List of constituencies of the Assam Legislative Assembly, 126 constituencies of the state . Following the election, the incumbent ...

, Barkotoky sought reelection. He received 56206 votes, defeating his nearest opponent by 34990 votes. When Tarun Gogoi constituted his new ministry, Barkotoky was not included. In the

2011 Assam Legislative Assembly election The 13th Assam Legislative Assembly election was held in two phases on 4 and 11 April 2011 to elect members from 126 constituencies in Assam, India. The result was announced on 13 May. Bharatiya Janata Party was accused of turning the anti-im ...

, he sought reelection in

. He received 56655 votes, 53.38% of the total vote. He defeated his nearest opponent by 28904 votes. After a cabinet reshuffle in the Tarun Gogoi ministry, on 23 January 2015 Barkotoky was made Education minister in Assam. He spoke with the Chief Minister when he said the education was the priority in Assam. He also requested that

Smriti Irani Smriti Zubin Irani ( Malhotra; born 23 March 1976) is an Indian politician, former actress, fashion model, and television producer. An eminent member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Smriti Irani has held various significant roles within t ...

organise state grants for universities. In the

2016 Assam Legislative Assembly election The Assam Legislative Assembly Election of 2016 was held in two phases, on 4 and 11 April 2016, to elect members of the 126 constituencies in Assam, a state in North-eastern India. The overall voter turnout was 84.72%, which set a new record for ...

, Barkotoky sought reelection as the Congress candidate for Sonari. He received 49210 votes, 37.47% of the total vote. He lost to

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, ...

candidate,

Topon Kumar Gogoi Topon Kumar Gogoi (born 1 March 1969) is an Indian politician belonging from the Bharatiya Janata Party and was a Member of the Lok Sabha from Jorhat from 2019-2024. He was succeeded by Gaurav Gogoi with a historic margin in 2024 Lok Sabha Elec ...

, by 24117 votes. He was one of 10 cabinet ministers who lost in the election.

Personal life and death

Barkotoky married Bina Barkotoky on 5 June 1965 and they had 3 children; two sons and one daughter. He was interested in sports like

Table Tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

Carrom Carrom is a tabletop game of Indian origin in which players flick discs, attempting to knock them to the corners of the board. In South Asia, many clubs and cafés hold regular tournaments. Carrom is commonly played by families, including c ...

etc. He was associated with various political and cultural organisations. He was also Vice Chairman of the State Planning Board from 2006 and Chairman of the Committee on Estimates, ALA from 2010. Sharat Barkatki died on 30 October, at the age of 88. He had been undergoing treatment at GMCH from 16 October.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barkotoky, Sarat 1935 births 2023 deaths Assam MLAs 1991–1996 Assam MLAs 1996–2001 Assam MLAs 2001–2006 Assam MLAs 2006–2011 Assam MLAs 2011–2016 Indian National Congress politicians from Assam State cabinet ministers of Assam People from Charaideo district