Sukumar Barman (1 January 1952, in Kemtali – 10 March 2012, in

Agartala Agartala () is the capital city of the Indian state of Tripura, and is one of the largest cities in northeast India. The city is governed by the Agartala Municipal Corporation. The city is the seat of the Government of Tripura. It is located on ...

) was an Indian politician. He was a prominent leader of

Scheduled Caste The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

s in

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the east a ...

. Barman hailed from an impoverished fishing family in

Sonamura Sonamura is a town and a Nagar Panchayat in the Indian state of Tripura. It is the headquarter of Sonamura Subdivision in Sipahijala district and lies on the border with Bangladesh to the east of Comilla. Demographics As of the 2011 India cen ...

district. His family sent him to live with an uncle in order to attend school, and he first came into contact with activist politics through the student movement. He completed his higher secondary examination in 1971. He went on to join the peasants' movement. Barman became a 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 ...

in 1976. Between 1978 and 1983, he served as elected village ''pradhan'' of Kemtali. He would become a member of the Tripura State Committee of the party. He also became the general secretary of the Tripura Scheduled Caste Coordination Committee. From 1988 onwards he was a 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 Nalchar constituency. During 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 ...

/Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti government 1988–1993, Barman was the target of several assassination attempts. When the Left Front was elected back into office in Tripura 1993, Barman was named Minister of State. Between 1998 and 2004 he served as the Tripura state government Minister of Transport and Fisheries. He lost his cabinet position in the downsizing of the government that came out of The Constitution (91st Amendment) Act 2003. Barman served as the chairman of the state owned land development bank and Tripura Road Transport Corporation. He was also a well known swimmer. Barman died in March 2012 at G.B. Pant hospital in

, where he had been admitted following a brain haemorrhage. The state government declared a two-day mourning period, during which the national flag was flown at half mast. His body was cremated in Kemtali.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barman, Sukumar 1952 births 2012 deaths Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from Tripura People from Sipahijala district Tripura MLAs 1988–1993 Tripura MLAs 1993–1998 Tripura MLAs 1998–2003 Tripura MLAs 2003–2008 Tripura MLAs 2008–2013 Tripura MLAs 2013–2018