2024-09-16 17:15:29
New Delhi: Veteran communist leader and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury is no more in this world. He died on September 12 at the age of 72. Yechury was politically a staunch communist, however, he always gave priority to practicality in politics. This is the reason why at one time he took out such a protest march against Indira Gandhi that she was forced to resign. However, when the political situation changed, this veteran communist leader did not hesitate to become Rahul Gandhi’s ‘mentor’. CPM leader Yechury, like many practical politicians of his generation, was humble and friendly, and had good relations with leaders of all parties.
Once opposed to Congress, later did not avoid alliance
After the rise of the BJP and the formation of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government at the Centre, Sitaram Yechury was one of the few CPM leaders who avoided ideological debate on an alliance with the Congress. His thinking was simply that the BJP could be strongly countered. Although the Congress was earlier considered the main opponent of the communists, Yechury considered an alliance with them necessary to challenge the BJP. Even during the 2024 general elections, he insisted that the Narendra Modi-led BJP should be countered through a state-by-state alliance. The election results proved his thinking right to some extent.
He carried forward the legacy of ‘Chanakya’ of coalition politics and made his identity, know how was the political journey of Sitaram Yechury
When Indira Gandhi was forced to resign from the post of JNU Chancellor
Interestingly, the hardline leaders of the CPM do not even today formally accept the party’s alliance with the Congress. This is the situation when the CPM itself is a part of the ‘INDIA’ alliance. As a student leader, Yechury forced Indira Gandhi to resign from the post of Chancellor of JNU. His later adoption of a pragmatic approach to politics makes this event even more significant. Keeping himself away from Naxalism in the 1970s also reflects Yechury’s pragmatic political understanding. The Naxalite movement was a branch of Marxist ideology, which declared allegiance to the Communists of China. In 2014, when Modi became the Prime Minister for the first time, Yechury had said that circumstances have changed, so it is necessary to change our analysis and alliance as well.
Yechury was very friendly and simple by nature
Some compare him to another pragmatic Communist leader, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, who was adept at building alliances. But it is important to note that a major reason for the difference in the success rate of the two leaders is that the CPM was politically stronger during Surjeet’s time. Yechury’s affable and simple nature was not artificial. Even as a student activist, he was not a domineering or big-mouthed leader. He loved to engage in debates, and put forth his point in a witty manner. Many politicians, including Communists, are fond of giving speeches. Yechury was never like that.
English is used in party forums but Hindi is preferred in general conversation
Another striking feature was that unlike many of his Marxist colleagues, he did not use difficult language. Also, unlike theoretical Marxists, he was interested not only in a class but also in social groups and religion. He understood that both these aspects were important to understand Indian society. Telugu was his mother tongue. In party forums and meetings, he preferred English as he felt it was easier for him to express political ideas in this language. But he used to deliver public speeches in Hindi. During his two terms in the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal, he tried to speak in Bengali during conversations with Bengali journalists.
Created an identity of an open-minded leader
Born in a Telugu Brahmin family, Sitaram Yechury refused to wear the sacred thread and recite shlokas. He said he was the first communist in his family. But he never denied the philosophical debates hidden in ancient religious texts. This open-mindedness later helped him debate the Hindutva ideology. Those who knew him say that one of Yechury’s special qualities as a politician was that he was more interested in finding similarities rather than differences between parties and groups.
Yechury’s Rajya Sabha term ended in 2017
These qualities of Yechury served him well in Parliament, where his good oratory skills earned him a distinct identity, especially at a time when the quality of parliamentary interventions was declining. When his Rajya Sabha term ended in 2017, Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav praised him. He was not alone, many other MPs also felt that the House would miss Yechury. As the Left’s mass base eroded, the importance of CPM leaders, including Yechury, in national politics also diminished. His golden period is considered to be between 2004 and 2008. From the formation of the first United Progressive Alliance (UPA-1) government to the time when the CPM withdrew support from the Manmohan Singh government over the Indo-US nuclear deal.
He did not hesitate to admit his mistakes
It is difficult for Indian politicians, including communists, to introspect publicly. But Yechury was an outlier. After the formation of the UPA-2 government, he admitted that his party had failed to convince voters of its stand on the nuclear deal, which led to the Congress-led coalition winning by a landslide victory. He was perhaps the only member of the polit bureau to do so. The victory of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Bengal dealt a blow to the CPM and its leaders from which they have not yet recovered.
Yechury was devastated by his son’s death
Yechury’s last public message came on the day he was shifted from the ICU to the general ward at AIIMS in Delhi. The recorded message was his tribute to another Communist leader and former Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who died recently. Before falling ill, Yechury was dealing with a deep personal grief. He lost his son Ashish to Covid in 2021. According to those close to him, he was never the same after that. As a father, he was devastated. But it is a testament to his abilities as a politician that he picked himself up as a pragmatic Communist and kept moving forward.