Lal Salaam, Comrade Yechury—you were quite a guy!
The general secretary of the CPI(M), who passed away recently at age 72, defied all the clichés one associates with hardcore “commies”. From his appearance to his demeanour, he was like “one of us”. Meaning, he didn’t shove his ideology down anybody’s throat, nor was he judgmental about capitalists in his group. He was evolved enough to accept diverse points of view, without compromising on his own political beliefs. With a track record as impressive as his, he could have been a pompous Marxist intellectual talking down to lesser, crassly bourgeois beings. But, there he was with a ready smile and a few warm words for anyone who came up to him. It is no wonder then that the tributes which poured in after his passing were genuinely heartfelt, even the ones from political opponents like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who grudgingly had to admit, “… his demise will be a loss for national politics”.
Known for his witty one-liners and repartees, Yechury made friends across party lines and, to the best of anyone’s knowledge, had no foes. It is so fitting that his last message from the hospital was a recorded tribute to former West Bengal chief minister Comrade Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who had passed away last month. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said Yechury was “fierce in his determination to protect India’s diversity and was a powerful champion of secularism”. Theirs was a friendship that began in 2004 and continued till the very end. Rahul Gandhi described him as a “protector of the idea of India”.
Given his elitist upbringing (in a Telugu Brahmin home) and education (St Stephen’s and JNU, Delhi), Yechury was the epitome of sophistication and charm. Even after the CPI(M) lost to Mamata’s Trinamool Congress, he soldiered on valiantly, sticking to his unshakeable beliefs, even as critics predicted his party’s doom. Soft-spoken and modest, Yechury could easily have been a publicity-seeking, headlines chaser, but he stuck to his brand of politics, constantly reaffirming his faith in India’s secular backbone. After his demise, one particular clip was widely shared—Yechury addressing the Rajya Sabha during his farewell speech, talking passionately about the nation’s “syncretic” culture in Hindi-English.
The few times we met, I was struck by what a chilled-out man he was—communicative, affable, approachable, knowledgeable, urbane and so articulate! On a flight from Kolkata to Jamshedpur, he chatted with my husband in fluent Bengali—they spoke like long-lost friends—about books, art, cinema, philosophy and, of course, politics. He spoke lovingly about his family, particularly his son Ashish, whom he tragically lost to Covid-19 in 2021. Family associates say Yechury was never the same again.
His poignant farewell speech will be his legacy. He reminded his co-parliamentarians that we were all custodians of an India where all religions and belief systems were equally respected. While talking to friends of Yechury, all of them spoke with deep admiration and respect for an icon and intellectual who spent his life demonstrating what he profoundly believed in—a more equal India, tolerant and progressive, forward-thinking and free of religious strife.
Looking back on our conversation during that short flight to the steel city, my heart soared. India needs many more Sitaram Yechurys to keep reminding us of the true “idea of India”, free of narrow caste/religious prejudices and the dirty politics of hate.
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