The General Secretary of the CPI (M), Sitaram Yechury passed away this afternoon at the AIIMS in Delhi, failing to recover from a respiratory infection.
He was 72. A brilliant student throughout his career, Sitaram Yechury was a bold leader and an affable and learned politician, ‘Sita’ as he was known to many in Lutyens Delhi, made a mark in left politics as well as in national politics.
A student of All Saints High School in Hyderabad and briefly with the Nizam College, Sitaram Yechury graduated from St Stephen’s and post graduation from the JNU.
He made a mark as a student leader with the SFI (Students Federation of India) in JNU with his debating skills and persuasive nature and reportedly read out a list of demands when Indira Gandhi visited it as the chancellor in the late 1970s. He was arrested during the Emergency briefly, which in a way put paid to his quest for a PhD in economics which he was pursuing at JNU. He jumped full time into active politics by joining the CPIM.
Affected by son’s death
The untimely loss of his eldest son, Ashish Yechury (35), a journalist, due to COVID in 2021 seemed to have deeply impacted Sitaram Yechury. He has been off colour since. Sitaram Yechury is survived by his wife, Seema Chisti, a senior journalist, daughter Akhila and son Daanish.
A politburo member of the CPM for the past 35 years, Sitaram Yechury was a member of the Rajya Sabha continuously during 2005-17. He was a forceful voice in debates in Parliament on a wide range of issues. Often, he led the opposition charge in recent years against the Modi Government.
Sitaram Yechury and the Cong(I) MP and noted lawyer, Kapil Sibal played the key role in the opposition move to give the impeachment notice for the removal of the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra in 2018.
I had a chance of listening and covering his debates and press conferences during the tumultuous days of the United Front and Vajpayee led NDA government during 1995-2001 in Delhi. He was one of the important UF leaders who drafted the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), which was the basis for the 16-party coalition government.
An affable politician
A distinct feature of Yechury’s politics was his affable demeanour and ability to bring together various leaders. This helped him also to maintain friendly relations with leaders cutting across political parties and ideological differences. He used this trait to help stitch together coalitions among the warring opposition parties even during the UPA government led by the Cong (I).
Sitaram honed his debating skills at the Hyderabad YMCA during the late 1960s as a college student. During the height of the separate Telangana agitation in 1969 and the movement for Separate Andhra in 1971, Sitaram Yechury moved to Delhi to join St Stephen’s as his father, joined in the Central government.
Yechury and Karat
During the Cong (I) led UPA governments (2004-14), when Dr Manmohan Singh was the PM, the CPM launched repeated attacks on the government on various issues with Prakash Karat being very vociferous, especially on the controversial India-US nuclear deal. Sitaram was the more sober and effective voice. Both Karat and Yechury enjoyed a strong bond since the JNU days but their styles varied. While Prakash Karat was ‘hawkish’ and aggressive, Sitaram Yechury followed a more sober and persuasive style.
The Karat lead CPM with the Kerala leftist support prevailed and pulled out of the UPA-1 government. Though it did not seriously impact the UPA government, left parties started to decline across the country and even in West Bengal, its stronghold for a long.
The rise of Modi and the BJP has seen the rapid erosion of numbers of the CPM in legislatures and Parliament. The mantle of rebuilding the Party fell on the shoulders of Sitaram Yechury in 2016. As General Secretary, he played a significant role in forging the INDIA Alliance of the opposition to put up a strong fight against the Modi-led NDA in the 2024 elections.
He did try his best to rebuild the Left moment. The veteran comrade lived a simple life, was accessible, and was also a people’s leader. He wrote articles, delivered lectures, and was friendly with the media throughout.
Hailing from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, he also played a crucial role during the rise of N T Rama Rao (1982-89), the Telugu Desam Party rule, and the fight for democracy. During the separate Telangana movement, he argued for a united AP, his Party line.
Yechury, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu were very vocal in debates during the separate Telangana movement.
Mostly dressed in his typical whites, giving a casual and friendly appearance, sporting an ever ready smile, the death of Sitaram Yechury is a loss to Indian politics, especially for public debate and discourse and Parliamentary democracy.
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