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**EDS: FILE IMAGE** Kolkata: In this Thursday, July 12, 2018 file image CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury interacts with the media at the party office in Kolkata. Yechury’s condition is critical and he is on respiratory support at AIIMS in Delhi, his party said on Tuesday. (PTI Photo/Swapan Mahapatra) (PTI09_10_2024_000149B) *** Local Caption **Sitaram Yechury became the fifth general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2015 and was re-elected for a second term in 2018. (PTI file photo)
Throughout his 50-year political career, Yechury began as an activist with the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) in 1974 and served as the JNU Students’ Union President
Sitaram Yechury, the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and a former Rajya Sabha MP, passed away on Thursday at the age of 72 after a prolonged illness.
Yechury had been receiving treatment for a severe respiratory infection at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. He was on respiratory support and being cared for by a team of doctors.
Who Is Sitaram Yechury?
Yechury was born into a Brahmin family on 12 August 1952 in Chennai. After completing his schooling in Hyderabad, he moved to Delhi in 1969 to continue his studies. He earned a degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and then pursued postgraduate studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
He was elected the fifth general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2015 and was re-elected for a second term in 2018. He served as a Rajya Sabha MP from 2005 to 2017.
Throughout his 50-year political career, Yechury began as an activist with the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) in 1974 and served as the JNU Students’ Union President. He remained steadfast in his commitment to Marxism-Leninism.
Role During Emergency
In 1975, he joined the CPI(M) and actively resisted the Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi. During this period, he went into hiding and was briefly arrested. One notable moment from this period was when Yechury led a march of JNU students to Indira Gandhi’s residence in 1977, presenting a list of grievances and demanding her resignation as chancellor of JNU. Gandhi was holding the position despite her defeat in the Lok Sabha elections after the Emergency, as per an Indian Express report.
After the Emergency, Yechury was elected president of the JNU Students’ Union three times between 1977 and 1978. He joined the Central Committee of the CPI(M) in 1984, alongside his JNU peer Prakash Karat, and became a member of the Politburo in 1992.
Yechury was also recognised for upholding the coalition-building legacy of former general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet. He worked with P. Chidambaram to draft the Common Minimum Programme for the United Front government in 1996 and played a crucial role in the coalition-building efforts during the formation of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2004.
Yechury is survived by his wife, Seema Chishti, the editor of The Wire, as well as a son and a daughter. His elder son, Ashish Yechury, passed away from Covid-19 in 2021.
