72-year-old Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] General Secretary and former Rajya Sabha MP passed away on Thursday (September 12, 2024) at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) hospital in New Delhi. He was undergoing treatment for acute respiratory tract infection since August 19, stated the party’s Polit Bureau communication. He is survived by wife Seema Chisti and daughter Akhila Yechury.
Mr. Yechury last uploaded a video on August 22 paying condolence to former Chief Minister West Bengal Buddhadev Bhattacharya. “It’s my loss that I was not able to physically attend this memorial meeting and pay my homage to Com. Buddhadev Bhattacharya”, he wrote on X.
Here is a look at the veteran communist’s political life
1952-1970: Early life, education and student politics
Born in Chennai (formerly Madras) on August 12, 1952 to Kakinada natives Sarveswara and Kalpakam Yechury, Sitaram obtained primary education from Hyderabad before shifting to Delhi in 1969 due to the Telangana movement spreading across undivided Andhra Pradesh. Keen in pursuing Economics, he completed his Bachelors degree from Delhi University’s St. Stephen’s college before switching to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for his masters.
Stepping into student politics, he joined the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) — the Left’s student chapter — in 1974 before becoming a member of CPI(M) in 1975. Rising along with fellow comrade Prakash Karat, Mr. Yechury strengthened the SFI-led student union in campus — JNUSU through the late 1970s. At the same time, veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley joined the party’s student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and soon rose to be elected as president of Delhi University Student Union (DUSU).
1975-1991: Detention, Indira Gandhi’s resignation, rise in CPI(M)
With the advent of Emergency across India, Yechury forwent his plans to pursue a Ph.D. and went underground to organise resistance against it. However, he along with student leaders like Mr. Karat, Mr. Jaitley, D.P. Tripathi to name a few were arrested by the Indira Gandhi Government for opposing the directive. After the Emergency was lifted, Yechury was elected as JNUSU president thrice between 1977-78. Under his helm, the JNUSU forced Ms. Gandhi to resign as the University’s chancellor in October 1977 after she passed orders of indefinite closure of JNUSU. He was later made SFI’s All India Joint secretary in 1978.
During his stint in the SFI, he organised several protests in JNU against the administration over various issues, sowing the seeds one of the Left’s strongest bastion in universities. He left SFI as its president in 1984 to join CPI(M)’s central committee and was elected to its Congress in 1985, the party’s Central Secretariat in 1988 and the Polit Bureau in 1992.
1992-2004: Elevation to Polit Bureau, role in UPA-1 formation
After joining CPI(M)’s apex policy-making body — the Polit Bureau — in 1992, Yechury grew within the party ranks. In 1996, when India awarded a fractured mandate, the Left Front along with other socialist parties formed the United Front government. Yechury was among those leaders who worked on a common minimum programme for the new government’s functioning.
In 2004, when India awarded a shocking victory to the Congress, the Left recorded its best performance ever winning 60 seats in the Lok Sabha. With its new found place of significance to influence economic, political and foreign policies, the Left joined the new United Progressive alliance (UPA) Government on Yechury’s skillful negotiation. Throughout UPA’s tenure, Yechury was the voice of the Left questioning the Congress’ policies, often exerting pressure on the grand old party to tweak its stance.
2005-2015: Nuclear deal and CPI(M)’s voice in Rajya Sabha
During the initial days of UPA, CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet who was close to then-PM Manmohan Singh steered the Left’s policy role in UPA. However, as soon as Prakash Karat took over from Surjeet in 2005, the Left hardened its stance on foreign policy issues, especially the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement.
At that time, Yechury was elected to the Rajya Sabha and became the Left’s voice in Parliament. As the framework for the nuclear deal was being drafted, he voiced a list of demands by the CPI(M) to be included in the nuclear deal. While Mr. Yechury signalled his satisfaction with the inclusion of the concerns, Mr. Karat took a rigid stance against the deal. According to a WikiLeaks cable, in 2007, Yechury had assured the American side that the Left would support the Congress-led government and thwart any attempts by the Opposition (BJP) to topple the government.
However, a year later, the Left pulled their support to the UPA Government accusing the PM of ‘fulfilling its commitment to the Bush administration’ rather than tackling price-rise and inflation. Terming the nuclear deal ‘against India’s vital interests’, the Left accused Dr. Singh as keeping it in the dark regarding the Safeguards Agreement to be signed between India and U.S. Yechury and several other Left leaders were taken aback by this rash decision by Mr. Karat and have since then termed this a ‘mistake’.
During his stint in the Upper House, Yechury raised issues concerning price rise, inflation, rising communalism which have been lauded by several members.
2015- present: Three terms as CPI(M) general secretary
After three terms as general secretary, Mr. Karat was replaced by Yechury in April 2015. At the time of his elevation, the Opposition had faced a severe setback in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls with CPI(M) winning only 9 seats its weakest position since 1964. Tasked with reviving the Left, Yechury was given the humongous task of retaining the Left’s stronghold in Kerala as Bengal had visibly shifted with the rise of Mamata Banerjee.
Within a month, Yechury and Mr. Karat’s rift began to manifest publically. In May 2015, Yechury said that the Left should not have pulled support to UPA-1 on the nuclear deal as it did not ‘mobilise people for the Left’ in the 2009 elections. Asserting that opposing the deal was right, he added that the Left should have withdrawn from UPA-1 because ‘Congress abandoned aam aadmi issues’.
In 2016, he stepped up his attack on the Modi Government accusing it of ‘advancing the fascistic RSS project’ adding, “anyone failing to recognise and fight it will not just fail to prevent the victory of fascist but facilitate that victory”, in CPI(M)’s Bengali mouthpiece Ganashakti. His remark was in response to Mr. Karat’s view that “it was erroneous to characterise the Modi government as fascist”, describing it as a “right-wing authoritarian” regime.
One of his most iconic speeches in Rajya Sabha was in 2016, when he sparred with peer Arun Jaitley during the Parliament’s budget session. While the Rajya Sabha debated the arrest of JNU students for protesting Dalit student Rohith Vemula’s death, he reminded the BJP that several cabinet ministers were JNU alumni. Accusing BJP of attempting to make India a “theocratic, fascistic Hindu Rashtra”, he castigated the Modi Government of imposing its ‘narrow nationalism’ on all central universities.
In response, Mr. Jaitley questioned how anyone could celebrate Yakub Memon’s martyrdom, accusing the Opposition terming sedition as free speech in the name of academic freedom. Mr. Jaitley’s attempt to bulldoze several economic legislations via money bill route or using the finance bill were opposed by Mr. Yechury who termed it as ‘tyranny of majority’.
After two terms in the Upper House, Yechury bid an emotional farewell to the Rajya Sabha on August 10, 2017. Thanking Mr. Jaitley, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad for praising him, he concluded on a warning note, “If you try to impose a uniformity, whether it is religious uniformity or linguistic uniformity or cultural uniformity, on our diversity, then this country can never remain together. It will only implode”.
Since then, the CPI(M) has been Congress’ staunchest allies in most elections (except in Kerala where the two are in Opposition). In 2019 after BJP swept the polls winning 303 seats, Mr. Yechury asserted that CPI(M) was still ‘alive and kicking’. His party had been reduced to mere 3 seats.
Under his helm, CPI(M) has managed to only retain Kerala as its bastion while its parent party CPI lost its national party status. Being part of the Opposition bloc — Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) — Yechury was often at the side of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge or Mr. Rahul Kharge, part of seat sharing talks, drafting a common minimum programme or picking a PM candidate. With the muted victory of the BJP in 2024 polls, Mr. Yechury often voiced his criticism via social media platforms, leaving the vociferous attacks to his party’s MPs.
Published – September 12, 2024 04:18 pm IST