In very shocking news General Secretary of Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM) Sita Ram Yechury passed away on Thursday in New Delhi.
Comrade Yechury, was admitted in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi since August 19 due to severe lung infection, was on a life support system and was battling for life for the past few days
The Polit Bureau of CPM has expressed its profound grief at the passing away of Comrade Sitaram Yechury. Several other leaders of other parties have also expressed shock at the passing away of Com Sita Ram.
CPM said, “The untimely demise of Sitaram Yechury at this crucial juncture in our national politics is a big blow for the CPIM and a grievous loss for the Left, democratic and secular forces.”
In its message CPM said, “ Sitaram Yechury was the topmost leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), an outstanding leader of the Left movement and a well-known Marxist ideologue”.
He was a brilliant student who secured a first class in both his undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in economics. He joined the student movement in Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1974 and became a leader of the Students Federation of India. He was thrice elected as President of the JNU Students Union within a span of two years. He was also the All India President of SFI from 1984 to 1986 and played an important role in developing the student organization as an all-India force.
Sitaram Yechury joined the CPM in 1975 and was arrested during the emergency days. He was elected to the Central Committee of the Party in 1985 at the 12th Congress and he remained in the Central Committee till now. He was elected to the Central Secretariat in 1989 and to the Polit Bureau in 1992 at the 14th Congress of the Party.
Comrade Yechury was elected as the General Secretary of the CPM at the 21st Congress in 2015, a position he held till now.
Yechury was a member of the Rajya Sabha for two terms from 2005 to 2017. He served as the leader of the CPM group and was an effective parliamentarian. He was given the best parliamentarian award in 2017 and was a prolific writer.
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 CPM, which was supporting these coalitions.
It is a big loss to the peoples’ movement. A great intellectual and revolutionary has left leaving behind his rich legacy. In today’s India his contribution to pro-people and pro-democratic movements was of great importance. I had the opportunity to work with him for a few years as a member of the SFI Central Committee. He will be missed by all of us. Adieu, Comrade!