New Delhi, Sept 12: CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, a pragmatic communist and one of the key architects of coalition politics since the mid-90s, died on Thursday at a hospital here after battling lung infection.
Yechury, 72, was in a critical condition for the last few days and on respiratory support while undergoing treatment for an acute respiratory tract infection at the ICU in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He was admitted to the hospital on August 19.
In a statement, the CPI(M) said Yechury’s body will be kept at the party headquarters here between 11 am and 3 pm on Saturday for public viewing and paying homage. Subsequently, the body will be taken to AIIMS, where it will be donated for medical research, according to his wishes.
“It is with profound grief that we announce the passing away of CPI(M) general secretary, our beloved Comrade Sitaram Yechury, at 3.03 pm today, 12th September, at the AIIMS, New Delhi. He was suffering from a respiratory tract infection which developed complications,” the party said in a post on X.
Yechury is survived by his wife Seema Chishti, an editor with news portal The Wire and three children — two sons and a daughter. One of his sons Ashish Yechury passed away due to Covid in 2021. He was earlier married to Indrani Mazumdar.
Condolences from across the political spectrum poured in, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi remembering the comrade as a “leading light of the Left” and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi calling him “a protector of the idea of India”.
Called ‘Sita’ by his friends, Yechury, the fifth general secretary of the CPI-M who took over the reins of the party in 2015 from party hardliner Prakash Karat when Left fortunes were on the decline, was also hailed as an effective parliamentarian, a pillar of the party and an “unrepentant Marxist” with a pragmatic streak.
A soft spoken and popular leader who had friends across the political spectrum, Yechury was also a Rajya Sabha MP for 12 years from 2005.
“Saddened by the passing away of Shri Sitaram Yechury ji. He was a leading light of the Left and was known for his ability to connect across the political spectrum,” Modi said in a post on X.
Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi said Yechury was fierce in his determination to protect India’s diversity and was a powerful champion of secularism, and noted that they had worked closely together during 2004-08 to begin with. “The friendship that had been established then continued till his very end,” Gandhi said in a statement.
The CPI(M), in a statement, described Yechury’s death as a big blow for the Left, democratic and secular forces.
“The untimely demise of Sitaram Yechury at this crucial juncture in our national politics is a big blow for the CPI(M) and a grievous loss for the Left, democratic and secular forces.”
BJP leaders and Union ministers also paid tributes to Yechury, one of the Left’s most recognised faces, and said his contributions to public life would always be remembered.
Several chief ministers condoled Yechury’s death, with West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee saying it was a loss to national politics.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan described Yechury as an unparalleled leader of the Communist movement, and said his death was an irreparable loss for the nation, especially during its time of crisis. Yechury, through his clear political stands, while in leadership positions, was not only a guide for the party, but also for the Left front and Indian politics, the CPI-M veteran said.
Yechury’s family has donated his body to AIIMS for teaching and research purposes, the hospital said in a statement.
A polyglot and prolific writer, Yechury was known for his skills at alliance building and was also one of the main building forces of the INDIA bloc, the opposition’s alliance against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
“In the recent period, Sitaram Yechury devoted a lot of his time and energy towards forging a broad unity of the secular opposition parties, which took the shape of the INDIA bloc. In both the period of the United Front government and later the UPA government, Sitaram was one of the key interlocutors for the CPI(M), which was supporting these coalitions,” the CPI(M) said in its statement.
“Given his amiable temperament, he had a wide circle of friends across the political spectrum and in all walks of life. He was respected by all for his political integrity and commitment.”
In one of his last video messages, Yechury had paid tributes to former West Bengal chief minister and CPI-M veteran Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. In a video message recorded from the hospital on August 22, he had said it was his loss that he was not able to physically attend this memorial meeting and pay homage to him.
“It’s most unfortunate that I had to connect from AIIMS to convey my feelings, emotions & revolutionary Lal Salaam to Buddho da,” he had said.
Yechury thrived on the challenges of coalition politics and in this way, he was more akin to his mentor, the late party leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet.
While Surjeet was a key player in the coalition era during the National Front government of VP Singh – formed in 1989 – and the United Front government of 1996-97, both supported from outside by the CPI-M, Yechury was the go to man during the UPA rule when Manmohan Singh was the prime minister, especially during its first five-year term from 2004.
Yechury, who was born in Chennai and studied at Delhi’s St Stephen’s College and Jawaharlal Nehru University, was a trusted ally of Sonia Gandhi, who was the United Progressive Alliance chairperson.
He was the first non-Congress leader Gandhi called after she met then president APJ Abdul Kalam in 2004 when she turned down the post of prime minister and rallied behind Singh.
Earlier, Yechury worked with Congress leader P Chidambaram to draft the common minimum programme for the United Front government in 1996-97.
It was an equation that survived the shock withdrawal of support by the Left to the UPA in 2008 over the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Yechury later said the Left should not have withdrawn support on the nuclear deal but should have pulled out on issues like price rise as the people could not be mobilised on the nuke issue in the 2009 general elections.
His rise in the party was swift. In 1985, he was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI-M and to the Politburo in 1992 at the age of 40 and then party chief in 2015. He was one of the youngest members of the Politburo.
Born in a Telugu-speaking family in Chennai on August 12, 1952, Yechury’s father Sarveswara Somayajula Yechury was an engineer in the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation. His mother Kalpakam Yechury was a government officer.
