CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury passed away at the age of 72 today.
He was undergoing treatment for a lung infection at AIIMS in Delhi for the past few weeks, and breathed his last after his health condition deteriorated.
Yechury was an economist, social activist and columnist. He had been a member of the party's politburo since 1992, and was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 2005 to 2017.
Yechury was born on August 12, 1952, in Madras (now Chennai) in a Telugu family. His father Sarveswara Somayajula Yechury was an engineer with the Andhra Pradesh State Road Corporation. His mother Kalpakam Yechury was a government official. He is a nephew of former Andhra Pradesh CS Mohan Kanda.
Yechury's childhood was spent in Hyderabad. He completed his matriculation from All Saints High School in the city. Later, he went to Delhi and joined the President's Estate School. In 1970 he became an all-India ranker in the CBSE Higher Secondary examination. He completed his BA in Economics from the famous St Stephen's College. He also held an MA degree from JNU. He joined a PhD program but could not continue it as he was arrested during the Emergency.
Yechury's first wife was Indrani Majumdar. He was later married to journalist Seema Chisthi, editor of The Wire. He had three children.
Yechury started his political career in 1974 as a student leader of SMI. In 1975 he joined the CPM when he was a student of JNU. He was one of those arrested during the Emergency. He was elected president of the JNU Students' Union thrice. Along with former CPM general secretary Prakash Karat he turned JNU into a Left bastion. He served as general secretary and president of SSII.
In 1984 he joined the CPM Central Committee, and in 1992 was elected as a member of the party's politburo. In 2005 he was elected to the Rajya Sabha for the first time from West Bengal. In 2015 he was unanimously elected as the party's fifth general secretary at the 21st CPM Congress held in Visakhapatnam. He has been in that position since then.
Yechury raised his voice on people's issues all through his career. He was also part of important committees. In 1996 he was involved in drafting the Common Minimum Program for the United Front government along with former union minister P Chidambaram. In 2004 he was instrumental in the formation of the UPA coalition government. He wrote columns for an English magazine titled Left Hand Drive. He has written books including 'Caste And Class In Indian Politics Today', 'Socialism In The Changing World', 'Modi Government: New Surge Of Communalism' and 'Communalism vs. Secularism'.