- Saturday, December 21, 2024
The 72-year-old leader had been in a critical condition for the last few days and was on respiratory support at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi
By: Shajil Kumar
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi on Thursday following prolonged illness, hospital and party sources said. He was 72.
Yechury had been in a critical condition for the last few days and was on respiratory support.
According to the sources, the veteran leader died at 3.05 pm.
The CPI(M) had said in a statement on Tuesday that the 72-year-old leader was being treated for an acute respiratory tract infection at the ICU in AIIMS, Delhi.
Yechury was admitted to the hospital on August 19 for treatment of a pneumonia-like chest infection.
The leader, who started from the student’s union of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as a member of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and went on to become a member of the Central Committee of the CPI(M) in 1984, got elected to the Politburo in 1992.
He served as a Rajya Sabha MP for 12 years, from 2005 to 2017. He became the fifth general secretary of the CPI(M) at the 21st party congress in Visakhapatnam on April 19, 2015, and took over from Prakash Karat.
He also played a significant role in the joint opposition’s INDIA bloc. He was seen among the political mentors of Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
The CPI(M) on Thursday expressed profound grief over the death of its general secretary Sitaram Yechury and described it as a big blow for the Left, democratic and secular forces.
“The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses its profound grief at the passing away of Comrade Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of the Party on September 12, 2024,” it said.
The party described him as an outstanding leader of the Left movement and a well-known Marxist ideologue.
“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. The Polit Bureau pays respectful homage to our beloved colleague and dips the red banner in his memory,” the statement said.
“The Polit Bureau calls upon all party ranks to unite and work harder to advance the struggle for an exploitation-free society. This is the best tribute that can be paid to him,” it said.
The CPI(M) also conveyed its deepest sympathy and condolences to Yechury’s wife Seema, his daughter Akhila, son Danish, brother Shankar and all other family members.
Rahul Gandhi mourns death
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday condoled the demise of Yechury and said he was a protector of the idea of India with a deep understanding of the country.
“Sitaram Yechury ji was a friend. A protector of the Idea of India with a deep understanding of our country,” Gandhi said in a post on X.
“I will miss the long discussions we used to have. My sincere condolences to his family, friends, and followers in this hour of grief,” he said.
Left parties pay tributes
Paying tributes to the Marxist leader, CPI General Secretary D Raja recalled his decades-long association with Yechury and said he is deeply aggrieved. “Sitaram was one of the most outstanding leaders of the Left and Communist movement in contemporary times,” he said.
“My association with him went back decades when he was in the students’ movement and I was working in the AIYF. After coming to the national centre, we worked together in many forums like the steering committee of the United Front government and later in shaping the common minimum programme of the UPA-1,” Raja said in a post on X.
“Our tenure in Parliament also coincided and we worked in close coordination articulating the positions of the Left in the Upper House. After becoming general secretaries of the CPI and CPI(M), we further worked together for the unity of Left, secular and democratic forces,” the CPI leader said.
Describing Yechury as a lucid writer, able parliamentarian and capable leader, Raja said his loss will be felt in Left and democratic circles.
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, in a post on X, termed Yechury’s death a “great loss for every Indian fighting in defence of democracy”. (PTI)
