Sitaram Yechury (12 August 1952 – 12 September 2024) was an Indian politician and the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from 2015 until his death. A gifted speaker in several languages and a skilled negotiator, he was one of the architects of the coalition governments of 1996 and 2004 and of the opposition alliance formed in 2023. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha for twelve years.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Sitaram Yechury |
| Born | 12 August 1952, Madras (now Chennai), India |
| Died | 12 September 2024, New Delhi (aged 72) |
| Party | Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
| Offices | General Secretary, CPI(M) (2015–2024); Member of the Rajya Sabha, West Bengal (2005–2017) |
| Education | St. Stephen’s College, Delhi (B.A. Economics); Jawaharlal Nehru University (M.A. Economics) |
| Spouse | Seema Chishti |
| Children | 3 |
Early Life
Yechury was born into a Telugu Brahmin family; his father was an engineer with the Andhra Pradesh road transport corporation and his mother a government officer. He grew up in Hyderabad and moved to Delhi during the Telangana agitation of 1969. He stood first in India in the school-leaving examination of the central board, studied economics at St. Stephen’s and took a first-class master’s at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
Political Career
He joined the Students’ Federation of India in 1974 and the CPI(M) the next year. He was arrested during the Emergency, which ended his doctoral studies. He was elected president of the JNU students’ union three times in 1977–78. In a well-known episode he led students to the home of Indira Gandhi and read out a demand for her resignation as the university’s chancellor while she stood listening.
He joined the party’s Central Committee in 1984 and its Politburo in 1992, where he was seen as a protégé of Harkishan Singh Surjeet. He helped draft the common programme of the United Front government in 1996 and of the Congress-led alliance in 2004, which the Left supported from outside until 2008. He succeeded Prakash Karat as general secretary in April 2015 and was re-elected in 2018 and 2022. He favoured working with the Congress to oppose the BJP.
In the Rajya Sabha he was regarded as one of the best debaters; in 2017 he received the award for best parliamentarian.
Death
He was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi with a chest infection in August 2024 and died there on 12 September. His family donated his body for medical research. His elder son, Ashish, had died of COVID-19 in 2021.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Sitaram Yechury born?
Sitaram Yechury was born on 12 August 1952 in Madras (now Chennai), India.
When did Sitaram Yechury die?
Died: 12 September 2024, New Delhi (aged 72).
Featured image: Sitaram Yechury speaks at the Hyderabad Book Fair, December 2019. Photo by Batthini Vinay Kumar Goud, licensed under CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
