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Comrade Sitaram Yechury, the renowned General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), passed away at the age of 72 on 12 September 2024. He had not been well for some time. Comrade Yechury was a prominent voice for left-wing politics in India, as well as a popular figure among his comrades and academicians in the international communist movement. He was a graduate of St. Stephen’s College at the University of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
Tauqueer Ali Sabri works as a project manager at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s South Asia Office in New Delhi.
Sitaram Yechury joined the Student Federation of India (SFI), the CPI(M)’s student league, in 1974, and marched on with the party after becoming a member in 1975. He had been working on a PhD when he was arrested during the Emergency,[1] but preferred to contribute toward the political needs of the nation than complete his doctorate after being released.
In 1992, Sitaram Yechury became a member of the Polit Bureau, the highest decision-making body in the CPI(M). This period marked a significant challenge for both Indian and global politics, particularly following the collapse of the USSR. In India, the political landscape was highly charged. In 1990, L.K. Advani, leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), embarked on a so called “rath yatra” from Somnath to Ayodhya, aimed at mobilizing public support for the construction of a temple dedicated to Lord Ram, on the site of a seventeenth-century century Mughal mosque. This movement led to a sharp rise in religious tensions, further polarizing the socio-political environment in the country.
On the other hand, the implementation of the Mandal Commission[2] raised critical questions about how to make India’s socio-political fabric more inclusive. The V.P. Singh government’s decision to establish quotas for “socially and educationally backward classes” sparked intense debates on social justice and representation. Amidst the global decline of the socialist camp and the diminishing influence of socialism, Yechury played a crucial role in building alliances and engaging in dialogue. Through various means and strategies, he sought to demonstrate the continued relevance of socialism in addressing India’s evolving socio-economic challenges.
With his ability to maintain strong relationships across political parties, Comrade Yechury became a central figure in building alliances. In 1996, he played a leading role in shaping the programme of the United Front government. He also played a crucial role in forming the coalition that brought the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)[3] to power in 2004. He was a prominent leader in the recently concluded 2024 general election, in which the INDIA bloc[4] emerged as an umbrella opposition. Here, he worked closely with the leaders from all parties to form an alternative at the federal level.
Sitaram Yechury was a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (upper house) for 12 years, from 2005 to 2017. His debates and interventions in parliament were admired and appreciated beyond party lines. Even parliamentarians from the opposition were keen to hear his views on important topics or legislations. As a result of his in-depth knowledge and unmatched style of oral communication, his lectures and write-ups are great treasures today. His farewell speech in the parliament was a presentation on the contemporary politics and society of India. In this same speech, as he mentioned “workers of the parliament”, he was passing the message to the Chairman of the House of the need to protect the interests of the workers of the house in the face of looming outsourcing and privatization of their jobs.
Comrade Yechury devoted his life to social justice and working for a dignified life for the people. Wherever required to take a stand for the causes of people’s struggles or movements, he never hesitated to be on the ground with them. Often, as I personally observed, he was present to share his solidarity, be it with the Adivasi (the tribal population of India), the Dalits (the former “untouchables”), or struggles for dignity or women’s rights.
I still remember seeing him on a cold Sunday in December 2019, when Sitaram Yechury came to Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi in solidarity with the students of Jamia. They were protesting against brutal police action against the students, and opposing the amended citizenship law.[5] He addressed the students, and praised them for their peaceful protest. He said, “The passion and energy is uplifting. Old and young, men and women alike. They are here to secure the future of this country for all Indians, irrespective of faith, language, region, age, and gender.”
Sitaram Yechury was a friend to all — an exceptional Communist leader of India.
In my meeting with him in November 2022, he conveyed his concern about factors eroding the foundations of a robust democracy in India, particularly the functioning of the media and judiciary. He observed the stark absence of a level playing field for the upcoming 2024 elections, but remained confident that the collective power of the people would serve as the ultimate response to such imbalances.
Sitaram Yechury was a staunch secularist. Throughout his life, he preached and practiced the idea of India in the public sphere as well as in family life. He had a unique understanding of India’s first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. He admired Nehru’s vision for the country as a pluralistic, secular democracy, and how socialism was integrated into the nation-building programme of independent India. He believed democracy and secularism are intertwined — one cannot survive without the other.
At a time when no one was speaking up about religion and the state’s interference with or in matters of faith, he clarified with his scholarly inputs. He stated that religion is an individual’s choice of faith. Religion is a holy bond between athma and parmatma.[6] But if religion was to be used for political purposes — like the inauguration of the aforementioned Ram temple by the current prime minister in 2024 — and the state were to be identified with one particular religion, that will go against the Indian constitution and against Supreme Court ruling. The state is not to profess or patronize any particular religion.
Sitaram Yechury was active in the international communist movement. He was close and equally popular among his comrades globally, and some time back he reiterated, “Today’s situation makes it clear that there is no solution to the people’s problems, the economic crisis, or the pursuit of a better world under capitalism — especially capitalism following the neoliberal path. The only viable alternative is socialism, and we are firmly committed to strengthening this political alternative.”
Sitaram Yechury was a friend to all — an exceptional Communist leader of India. He engaged not only within the left ecosystem but also with commoners with his remarkable scholarship and communication skills. He accomplished the historical task of reaching new audiences, which he inherited from Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet.[7] This was especially true when it came to reaching the youth, including many who did not identify with the Left. I personally know many who were taken in by his speeches and became admirers of the Left as a result.
We have lost a visionary political scholar, who knew how to execute his vision of proletarian politics in a parliamentary setting. He showed us the path — that the collective is possible in all forms. We needed him now more than ever before, at a time when politics is uncertain, capitalism is taking different forms and shapes, inequality is growing, and a far-right surge is visible across the globe. Comrade Sitaram Yechury’s absence will be deeply felt not only within the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the broader Left, but among the social movements and across the wider political spectrum around the world.
[1] The Emergency was a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared across India, citing internal and external threats to the country.
[2] The Mandal Commission or the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (SEBC), was established in India in 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to “identify the socially or educationally backward classes” of India.
[3] The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was a political alliance led by the Indian National Congress. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party got the majority. The UPA subsequently governed India from 2004 until 2014 before losing power to their main rivals, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
[4] The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.) is a big-tent, multi-party political alliance led by the largest opposition party, the Indian National Congress. The alliance is in opposition to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
[5] The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 by providing an accelerated pathway to Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who arrived in India by 2014. The eligible minorities were stated as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, or Christians. The law does not grant such eligibility to Muslims from these countries. The act was the first time that religion had been overtly used as a criterion for citizenship under Indian law, and it attracted global criticism.
[6] Paramatma is the Absolute Atman, or supreme Self, in various Indian philosophies such as the Vedanta and Yoga schools in Hindu theology. Paramatman is the “Primordial Self” or the “Self Beyond” who is spiritually identical with the absolute and ultimate reality. Selflessness is the attribute of Paramatma, where all personality/individuality vanishes. The word Atman generally denotes the Individual Self.
[7] Harkishan Singh Surjeet (1916–2008) was a Communist politician from Punjab, who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from 1992 to 2005 and was a member of the party’s Polit Bureau from 1964 to 2008.