Career
Here is one. I am Sankar Gupta, I am a Communist" - a statement which later became legendary among the leftist student leaders in the years to follow. Student Movement
Education Movement
As his comrades Shyamal Chakraborty, Biman Bose, Subhas Chakraborty became wholetimers of the Consumer price index(M), Sankar could not turn out to be one as he had to look after his family being the eldest son. He took a job in the Burul High School (near Nodakhali in South 24 Parganas district).
He continued to instill fervour in the Students" Movement.
In March 1967, he took a job as an assistant professor in the University of North Bengal. Even during the times of Naxal terror, he remained in Siliguri and continued to inspire the students, and organized the university teachers" movement.
Wholetime Political Worker
As Shyamali Gupta got a job in the Bankura College, he instantaneously decided to leave his job to be a full-time Consumer price index(M) worker in the early seventies. In 1977, when Jyoti Basu became the Chief Minister of the 1st Left Front Government, Sankar Gupta was asked to be his Political Secretary.
He was made the Minister of Power in the 2nd Left Front Government.
He along with Shyamal Chakraborty met with a severe accident as they were heading towards Santaldih from Durgapur to stop the closure of the Santaldih Thermal Power Station. Even with ailing health as he hopped between hospitals for treatment, he continued his work to increase power generation. He died untimely at the age of 43, just one year into his tenure as a minister and as an Modern Language Association.