Arindam Sarkar is Editor-Special Projects of Hindustan Times, Kolkata. He has spent over two decades covering Bengal and national politics of India as correspondent and editor. He has also covered South Asian countries.
Articles by Arindam Sarkar
Hasina invites Sonia, Mamata and Amit Shah to attend Awami League’s National Council
National Council of Awami League will be held in Dhaka on October 22 and 23.
Published on Oct 18, 2016 10:38 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Tale of two women: Mother Teresa and Ma Durga
As people go pandal hopping, pilgrims make a beeline to pray at the memorial of Saint Teresa of Kolkata.
Published on Oct 07, 2016 03:07 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Twenty-two days on a sofa in the balcony, last straw on Bhuniya’s back
Manas Bhuniya never liked WBPCC president Adhir Chowdhury’s style of operation.
Published on Sep 20, 2016 06:21 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Mahasweta Devi: The goddess of the downtrodden
Mahasweta Devi, one of the greatest littérateurs who fought for the downtrodden, believed in Marxist ideology and yet lent her undying spirit to the ouster of a 34-year-old Left regime from Bengal. On Thursday, she left a legacy that none can match.
Updated on Jul 29, 2016 08:53 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar
Mamata the fighter: West Bengal ushers in second term for ‘Didi’
Mamata Banerjee single-handedly took on the CPI(M) for decades in the state, suffering physical assaults. Always seen as clean, she was besieged with charges of corruption against her ministers, and of incompetence and authoritarianism. Yet she prevailed.
Updated on May 19, 2016 06:07 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Bengal: Poll-ready BJP set for Modi boost
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address six election rallies during the six-phase 2016 Assembly polls in Bengal.
Published on Feb 11, 2016 05:26 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Bengal: Mamata mulling fielding nephew Abhishek in Assembly elections
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is toying with the idea of fielding her nephew and MP Abhishek
Published on Feb 05, 2016 05:21 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
LBA resolved, Teesta pact and fight against terrorism next?
India and Bangladesh have agreed to resolve the long-standing issue of enclaves, but a host of other issues – ranging from river water to the mouth-watering Hilsa fish – remain sticking points between the two nations.
Updated on Jul 31, 2015 09:25 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Mamata to go alone in 2016 assembly polls
Undisturbed by the rumours of electoral alliances and seat adjustments that her opponents are secretly working on, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has told her senior party leaders to prepare to fight the 2016 Assembly polls in Bengal alone.
Updated on Jun 30, 2015 11:28 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Silence of the nuns: Missionaries refuse to get drawn into controversy over Mother Teresa
Vituperative criticisms and campaigns against her work never bothered Mother Teresa. And 18 years after her death, Missionaries of Charity too refuses to get drawn into controversies
Updated on Mar 15, 2015 11:12 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Kolkata: BJP gears up for next year’s civic elections
State BJP will earnestly begin its preparation from January next year for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections slated for mid-2015. From next month, the state BJP leadership will begin drawing up the candidates contesting in the 141 wards of KMC.
Updated on Dec 03, 2014 03:21 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Somnath’s mantra of fresh blood not to revive CPM: TMC
A day after former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee said that the CPI(M) needed to bring change in its leadership to come out of defeat mode, the Trinamool Congress claimed no change of guard could alter the fortunes of the Marxists.
Updated on Sep 27, 2013 10:21 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Centre bashing to be Mamata’s agenda at Brigade poll rally in Kolkata
After back-to-back victories in two (panchayat and municipality polls) in the last two months, chief minister Mamata Banerjee plans to launch her campaign for the Mother of all Battles — the 2014 Lok Sabha polls — from the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata
Updated on Sep 26, 2013 10:32 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Mumbai
Mamata’s south Kolkata LS seat may be set aside for her nephew
After three years, the South Kolkata parliamentary seat, which returned Mamata Banerjee to the Lok Sabha for six consecutive times out of her seven terms as MP before she resigned to become chief minister in 2011, would be set aside for her family during the Lok Sabha polls slated for 2014.
Updated on Sep 25, 2013 05:05 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Rural folk vote for development
After a landslide victory in the 2011 Assembly elections, Mamata repeated the feat on Monday and captured the rural belt in the three-tier panchayat polls on the development mantra
Updated on Jul 30, 2013 12:21 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Rain, violence take a big toll in Malda
CRPF firing killed one, a bomb explosion critically injured three children, a CPI(M) woman candidate was heckled by Trinamool Congress supporters and polling booths were jammed.
Updated on Jul 23, 2013 12:09 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Ratua & English Bazaar/malda
Congress fights comparison with Malda’s king Khan
A day before the crucial panchayat polls in this Congress bastion, the present crop of Congress leaders is fighting comparison with the late messiah of Malda, ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury, and the challenge posed by his own prodigies from the Trinamool camp.
Updated on Jul 22, 2013 12:48 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Mounting pressure on CM to sign B’desh water treaty
With Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi on the anvil later this year, all eyes are riveted on chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is yet to agree to signing the India-Bangla Teesta Water Sharing Treaty.
Updated on Feb 21, 2013 01:28 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Anti-Mamata Cong MPs chosen from Bengal
The choice of the three Congress MPs inducted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh into his council of ministers from West Bengal -- Adhir Chowdhury, AH Khan Chowdhury and Deepa Dasmunsi -- signals the possibility of the Congress snapping all ties with the Trinamool Congress in the state, Arindam Sarkar reports.
Updated on Oct 28, 2012 11:47 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Centre’s Muslim varsity move almost sunk Cong in Jangipur
State BJP president Rahul Sinha and Murshidabad District Congress president and MP Adhir Chowdhury agreed that the Centre’s decision to set up Aligarh Muslim University was the principal factor that almost defeated the Congress and led to a dramatic rise of the BJP vote bank in Jangipur parliamentary by-elections.
Updated on Oct 14, 2012 03:36 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Deepa, Adhir to lead policy battle in rural Bengal
In a move to take the sting out of chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s virulent attack against the implementation of FDI in multi-brand retail, Congress MPs Deepa Das Munshi and Adhir Chowdhury have launched an aggressive campaign to defend the UPA-II policy.
Updated on Sep 27, 2012 12:40 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Mamata to target Cong bastions in panchayat polls
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee will lead the campaign in the Cong strongholds during the ensuing panchayat elections in early 2013. She will lead the Trinamool Congress campaign in the green belt in North Bengal, which has always voted for the Congress. Arindam Sarkar reports.
Updated on Sep 25, 2012 12:40 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Mamata kept waiting for the phone to ring
Quitting UPA was the last option for Mamata, and it took three full hours at the Town Hall to cast off the moorings; however, legislators say decision was unanimous.
Updated on Sep 19, 2012 02:13 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Visit too short, feel students
Three days is too short a time for visiting one’s home state for the first time, after one is elevated to the highest office of the country, think the students of Sangrampur Girls High School in North 24-Parganas, who are keenly waiting for the President who gave them a bridge to cross a turbulent river.
Updated on Sep 15, 2012 01:58 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Jangipur Cong’s newest Waterloo
Seventy two hours before the AICC high command announces the candidate for the ensuing Jangipur parliamentary by-elections, scheduled for October 10, Congress MP and Murshidabad district Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said Jangipur is not a cakewalk this time.
Updated on Sep 13, 2012 11:47 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Who’ll be new Rly minister?
The Trinamool Congress came to power on the promise of change. There was no positive blueprint on governance. Ravik Bhattacharya and Arindam Sarkar report.
Updated on May 14, 2011 12:41 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya and Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Congress reaps dividends from ‘green belt’
For the last three decades, it has been the Congress’ most fertile zone – the so-called green belt. Even when the CPI(M)-led Left Front got a brute majority in the 2006 assembly polls, the people of Malda, North Dinajpur and Murshidabad stood by the Congress. Arindam Sarkar reports.
Updated on May 13, 2011 10:50 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Nandigram firing nailed CPM
Four years ago, when the first bullet was fired and blood spilled in the paddy fields of Nandigram, the fate of the Marxists was sealed forever. Arindam Sarkar reports.
Updated on May 13, 2011 09:35 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar
From dust to the dawn of a new era, Didi's come a long way
Like Sourav Ganguly, the Trinamool chief has an uncanny knack of staging comebacks. She did it before in the past, and, in 2011, she has done it again. Arindam Sarkar writes.
Updated on May 13, 2011 04:07 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Waiting for the verdict
Exit polls surely are reassuring but Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee is waiting for May 13 to see how much her good work in the last four years has translated into votes. Arindam Sarkar reports.
Updated on May 12, 2011 03:24 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata