Sitaram Yechury, moral hawk of UPA-I, passes away

Spread the love

Sitaram Yechury rose crest of Left political at national stage

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, September 12: The CPI (M) general secretary Sityaram Yechury passed away on Thursday at the AIIMS, New Delhi. Yechury had been ailing for a few days.

Yechury was on ventilator support for pneumonia. The CPI (M) announced on Thursday that Yechury passed away. Tributes are pouring from the cross-section of the Indian politics, as well as the civil society.

Yechury was the face of the Left in the Opposition bloc, the Indian National Developmental and Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). The 72-year-old Communist’s stint at the helm of the party saw a steep decline in the political fortunes.

Also Read: Crowded battles crystalize in Haryana, J&K polls

Yechury’s national footprints associate with his role in stitching Opposition alliances in the 1996, as well as the support of the Left to the UPA-I. Yechury along with Prakash Karat stopped late Jyoti Basu from taking shot at the post of the prime minister amid the fluid politics of the 1990s.

Basu claimed that it was a “historic blunder” that he was stopped from becoming the prime minister. But Basu’s hold in the CPI (M) was losing grip as the young turks in the CPI (M) found Budhadeb Bhattacharjee to replace the veteran Marxist.

After the 2011 loss in the West Bengal Assembly elections, Yechury was candid in admitting that his party committed a lot of mistakes. The Marxist political observers concur that the Netai killings had been the last proverbial straw on the camel’s back.

Also Read: Manipur students’ protests hasten internet blackout, curfew

Mamata Banerjee led the Trinamool Congress to uproot the political base of the CPI (M) from West Bengal. The politics of agitation had gone from the hands of the Marxists to the Trinamool Congress.

Yechury and Karat were blamed for helming the CPI (M) on the downhill journey of the party. Critics called them armchair politicians.

Karat and Yechury were least seen with agitation politics. They hobnobbed in the political parleys. The CPI (M) lost support base and soon Tripura was also lost.

Yechury is widely hailed as an extraordinary debater. He served as a member of the Rajya Sabha.

Also Read: Mamata wears festivity shield amid Kolkata rape-murder anger

Unlike other Marxists, Yechury freely quoted from mythology to lampoon the Bharatiya Janata Party. Yet, he was a pal of late Arun Jaitely of the BJP.

Yechury in the company of Karat erred in reading the political script in 2008 in pulling the rugs under the feet of the UPA government led by then prime minister Manmohan Singh. The alibi was India and the US civilian nuclear deal.

The constituencies of the CPI (M) failed to understand decision of the party to withdraw support from the UPA government. Yechury almost had commanded a power centre with 62 MPs of the left.

Yechury was the moral hawk of the UPA-I government. He held the Congress-led government on tight leash.

Join WhatsApp channel of The Raisina Hills

Share on Facebook

Save

About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

See author's posts