Adieu Comrade Yechury

The Indian political class is witness and participant to the development of democracy that has undergone changes and course correction from inception of India’s journey as a welfare state. It is the beauty of progressive fundamentals of the Indian democracy that in spite of the turbulence in the political and social life of the nation has been able to uphold the socialist values in its body politic. It has been possible with the political participation of the ideologues who have shaped the fundamentals of Indian national life and set new benchmarks for the functioning of the Parliament besides the representation of the people in both the houses. It is in this class of politicians that Comrade Sitaram Yechury has made a tremendous contribution with his arguments and narrative. His departure and leaving the mortal frame has created a void in the political class of India. His resistance to the mainstream politics and the decisions that were inimical to the common masses established that he upheld his Marxist ideals by operationalizing them in the political life of the nation. His left politics was rooted in the realisation of the dream of equality for all sections of the Indian society. To put Yechury in the correct perspective, it is proper to mention that he was considered as a moderate among the Marxists in terms of taking political positions. That does not mean he diluted his ideological stance or compromised on the cardinals of his politics. It means that he understood the political realism to take all progressive forces together to work in the interest of the social and national good. It must be internalised that Comrade Yechury took the reins of CPI (M) when the left politics had started losing its grip in the public discourse and political domains. It goes to the credit of his statesmanship that he could put across the vision and the ideologically prompt position across the political spectrum. He was a brilliant student from the university days and emerged as a student leader and then at the time of Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi read out the charter of demands to her, asking for her resignation. He was then a doctoral student. Besides contributing to the ideological moorings of the CPI(M),he rose to be its chief in 2015.It was during his leadership that CPI(M) party entered into a pre –poll alliance with the Congress party for the first time. His vision can be gauged from the emergence of the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) that emerged in the previous year meant to unite the opposition parties to present a formidable opposition to the ruling dispensation under check by raising the issues of public welfare for all sections of the society. Over the decades the left politics has been witnessing a downslide due to the association of subversion and subversive activities under the rubric of external powers that have nefarious designs to hamper India’s growth march.This has indeed led to the less acceptance of left politics among the educated class.The same educated class considered the left politics as the progressive bloc in Indian politics in the years right from the independence till it lost its ground in India in the decades after 1990’s.The reason being the abandonment of the cultural moorings of the nation and adopting the import of ideas that are anti-theses of Indian values. Comrade Yechury had a tough time in keeping the flock together but it goes to his credit that he managed the dwindling flock that has lost control over the public pulse. Comrade Yechury tried to regain the lost base of the left among the intelligentsia and establish its credibility among the educated elite that once constituted the foothold of the Marxist politics in India. This dilemma has been rightly analysed by Dipten Raychowdhury, a political analyst, he says, “Sitaram had become the general secretary of the party in its sunset. The CPI (M)’s intellectual base had eroded and the party was full of bureaucrats instead of sharp political minds. “His political acceptance and credibility despite ideological differences can be gauged from his acceptance as the “CPI (M) General Secretary for the Congress” by the Congress leader Jairam Ramesh. His communication skills and internalisation of the importance of personal relations to micromanage the crisis can be understood from his interaction with various leaders, when he accompanied them to China. Being flabbergasted with his art and competence of speaking in various languages, CPI (M) veteran late Jyoti Basu remarked, “This man (Yechury) is dangerous. He is talking in four different languages and although we are sitting here, none of us can understand what he is saying to others. “He was accompanied by Harkishen Singh Surjeet, Jyoti Basu, Rammurthy and Basavapunnaiah. He talked to them in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Kannada respectively. This explains the competence of Comrade Yechury as a leader and communicator, establishing him as a political ideologue who understood the national psyche to develop personal bonds even within his own ideological comrades. As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, he shared a special bond. In 2019 after the neutralisation of the Article 370 and 35A,he entered Srinagar within weeks of the political reorganisation. Several other leaders tried to enter Jammu and Kashmir at that time but failed.Many political leadrs were sent back keeping in view the sensitivity and law and order situation but comrade Yechury spent hours with his ideological counterpart Comrade Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami who was not keeping good health at that time. He justified his presence with a copy of the Supreme Court order and explained to the Hindustan Times, “After I met Tarigami at his residence, I wanted to meet his doctor. The cops were impatient to take me back to the airport. I showed them a copy of the SC order that I was allowed to ascertain Tarigami’s whereabouts and medical condition. “This explains the political maturity and respect for the law that Comrade Yechury represented. He had been an intellectual delight. His assertions and analysis to safeguard the political democracy in India will always be valued. His writings in the form of articles and books will always attract attention and interest of the masses and researchers to internalise the evolution of modern democracy in India. He contributed to the Rising Kashmir and shared his clinical assertions to enlighten the masses. India has lost an original political ideologue who contributed towards the enrichment of people’s democracy. Adieu Comrade Yechury.