Left’s fall:A closer look

Sarkar,a resident of Sodepur in North 24 Parganas district,has witnessed everything,from 2001 when Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee got the people’s mandate to become the chief minister to May this year when he paid the price for his flawed policy on land acquisition. This is the time when top leaders of the Left have realised their folly – just 20 years back they taught farmers to resist all attempts of land grabbing and now they were telling them to part with their land.

Sarkar,now 40,and a bachelor who stays with his brother Saumitra,did his graduation from Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary college at Rahara,Sodepur and later did his MA in journalisn from Calcutta University.

The feisty journalist,before he learnt to quiz politicians with utter stoicism,did all sort of odd jobs to eke out a living,from selling LIC policies and also selling sarees. He also worked as a reporter of Akashvani for a monthly salary of Rs 250.

His big break came when he got a job for one of the leading Bengali dailies in Kolkata – Sambad Pratidin. Later,he moved to Aajkal and from there he joined Bartaman,where now he has been working for the last 10 years.

“It was Barunda who taught me how to be fearless and how to go for stories. He will remain a guiding star for me. And I must admit that had I not received unflinching support from our present editor Shubha Dutta,I would not have been able to carry on my job for unearthing the truth,” says Sarkar,who likes to call himself “Amal Khoborwala; (Amal the news seeker).

Sarkar was witness to the day when Buddhadeb brought Ratan Tata. The day Buddhadeb was sworn in as chief minister in 2006,he announced the Tata Motors’ project at Singur. Later,at the joint press conference with Tata,he proudly exclaimed to reporters: “How was the beginning!’’

Little did he know that it was really the beginning of the end of a 34-year-old edifice.

He was also witness to the incident when police had gone to disperse farmers at Nandigram where the government had gone to acquire land by putting up notices on wayside trees and walls. And how the police firing led to the death of 14 farmers.

Sarkar’s book deals extensively with the stand of the Marxists before they came to power and how it changed gradually and totally became anti-farmer when Bhattacharjee came to power in 2006. It also dwells on the roles played by important ministers of the Bhattacharjee cabinet – minister for Commerce and Industries Nirupam Sen and minister for Land and Land Reforms Abdur Rezzaq Molah. It also discusses how the two ministers worked on cross purposes ultimately throwing a spanner on Bhattacharjee’s grandiose plans for bringing investments to the state.

And if he has bothered Bhattacharjee and Sen by asking them unpalatable questions,Sarkar has not spared present Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her minister for Commerce and Industries Partha Chatterjee also. “Barunda has taught me to go for truth without fearing anything. And for this,I don’t care anything. Truth is my god and I will go for it,’’ says the scholar journalist.