Friends, admirers, and comrades bid adieu to Sitaram Yechury

There were no last rites, as his body was donated for medical research at AIIMS; Yechury is the first CPI(M) general secretary to die in office, leaving his party with the urgent task of finding a successor

Updated - September 15, 2024 02:11 am IST - New Delhi

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and CPI (M) leaders Prakash and Brinda Karat during a ceremony to pay respects to party general secretary Sitaram Yechury at the CPI (M) headquarters in New Delhi on September 14, 2024,

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and CPI (M) leaders Prakash and Brinda Karat during a ceremony to pay respects to party general secretary Sitaram Yechury at the CPI (M) headquarters in New Delhi on September 14, 2024, | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Family, friends, admirers, and comrades bid a final adieu to Sitaram Yechury, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary on Saturday, as his mortal remains were brought to the party headquarters for people from all walks of life to pay their last respects. At 3:30 p.m., he left the party office for one last time, with a winding trail of mourners following in the wake of the funeral cortege, holding his photographs and raising slogans. 

They accompanied his mortal remains till 14 Ashoka Road, which was the CPI(M) Central Committee’s office for many years. It was here, in 1984, that a 32-year-old Yechury first joined party’s highest decision-making body. His family then left for the All India Institute of Medical Sciences where, in accordance with his wishes, his body was donated for medical research. 

Yechury died on September 12, a month after he celebrated his 72nd birthday. A busy man in life, he had hopped from one meeting to another; in death too, he had to make several stops. A day after his death, his embalmed body was taken to Jawaharlal Nehru University, his first political home, before heading to his residence. On Saturday, his mortal remains were brought to the party’s headquarters at AKG Bhawan in Delhi. 

Paying tribute

Congress Parliamentary chairperson Party Sonia Gandhi was one of the first to pay her respects. Several other Congress leaders, including Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken, Sachin Pilot, Ashok Gehlot and Rajeev Shukla, paid a visit. From the Aam Aadmi Party, the top leadership, including Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Gopal Rai and Raghav Chadha, all came. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leaders Udayanidhi Stalin and T.R. Baalu, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Manoj K. Jha, and CPI general secretary D. Raja were among the political colleagues there to pay him tribute. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and nearly all his State Ministers were present at the headquarters.

The legacy of Sitaram Yechury
Sitaram Yechury, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), passed away aged 72 in New Delhi on September 12. The Hindu’s senior editors, Sandeep Phukan and Sobhana K. Nair, talk about Yechury the person, the highlights of his political career, Yechury the respected Parliamentarian and orator, why he is one of a kind in the world of coalition politics, and his legacy. | Video Credit: The Hindu

Chinese Ambassador Xu Feihong, Vietnam Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Hai, Palestinian Ambassador Adnan Abu Alhaija and former Nepal PM Madhav Kumar Nepal also came to express their condolences. 

A host of academic luminaries, including historian Romilla Thapar, visited the party headquarters as did several members of civil society. A long queue of visitors waited patiently in Delhi’s humid weather to catch one glimpse of the departed leader. 

Wide-ranging interests

The gathered leaders swapped anecdotes about happier times they had spent with Yechury. “He had a wide array of interests. I remember once he started expounding on Hindi film songs, especially how you can never understand the import of the song in its opening lines, you have to wait for the antara (middle paragraph) for the real meaning. And he hummed seven to eight songs to prove his point. With the same ease, he could speak on international developments, Marxist ideology, and particularly economic theories,” reminisced Polit Bureau member Tapan Sen.

Another Polit Bureau member Hannan Mollah said that the void left behind by Yechury cannot be filled even with the collective leadership of the Opposition. 

The CPI(M)‘s West Bengal secretary Mohammad Salim, who had known Yechury since the 1980s, said he had set the party’s political path with strategic electoral alliances to stem the growth of the BJP and unite Left forces. “CPI(M) is on the path of revival. Mr. Yechury always said that the CPI(M) can’t revive across the country till it gets back on its feet in West Bengal. And that is exactly the direction we are heading in West Bengal. We will stay on the course,” Mr. Salim said. 

Succession dilemma

Yechury is the first CPI(M) general secretary to die in the saddle in what was his third and final term. His successor would have been elected at the next party Congress in April 2025, but his abrupt departure leaves the party with the tricky task of looking for an immediate replacement.

In the run-up to the party Congress, organisational elections are already going on at the district level. To prepare the political line and the organisational draft for the Congress, the party’s Polit Bureau is scheduled to meet on September 27 and 28, followed by the Central Committee meeting on September 29 and 30.

“As per the party Constitution, the Central Committee which is elected at the party Congress in turn elects the general secretary. The Central Committee, therefore, can rightfully pick Mr. Yechury’s heir,” a party insider explained. However, a section of the party strongly believes that the general secretary should be elected directly by the new party Congress to have the rightful authority to lead the party. 

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