From SFI to political stalwart: How JNU shaped Sitaram Yechury’s journey

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM's revolutionary face, Sitaram Yechury (72) passed away. He died while undergoing treatment at AIIMS, Delhi due to a lung infection. Yechury was admitted to AIIMS on the 19th of last month due to a serious illness. Yechury, who has been working as a member of the CPM Politburo for 32 years, became the General Secretary in 2015.

Sitaram Yechury Rao was born on 12 August 1952 in Madras to an Andhra Brahmin couple Sarveswara Somayajula Yechury and Kalpakkam. Deciding to cut caste from the tail end of his name, Sitaram Yechury was modelled on the CPM's first general secretary who changed from Sundara Rama Reddy to P Sundariah. After Sundaraiah, Yechury was the leader who became the CPM general secretary from Andhra.

He had his primary education in Hyderabad. Yechury's schools also changed with the relocation of his father, who was an engineer in the Andhra Road Transport Corporation. He studied at Railway School in Vijayawada and All Saints School in Hyderabad.

After joining the President's Estate School in Delhi, Yechury secured the All India First Rank in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Higher Secondary Examination. Later he obtained his degree from St. Stephen's College. In 1975, he received his Master's degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

He entered political life in 1974 through SFI. Emergency was declared in the country during his studies in JNU. He was arrested before completing his doctorate after protesting against the Emergency. He resumed his studies after his release from prison. Yechury was elected JNU student union president three times during the same period. He was elected as All India Joint Secretary of SFI in 1978 and SFI All India President in the same year. It was the JNU period that shaped Yechury as a politician.

Yechury became the national president of SFI in 1984 and in the same year became a regular guest in the Central Committee of CPM along with Prakash Karat. The following year he was a member of the Central Committee along with Karat and S. Ramachandran Pillai. He has been a member of the CPM Politburo since 1992. He came to the helm of the party in 2015. Yechury was elected as the General Secretary for the third time in the 23rd Party Congress held in Kannur in April 2022. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal from 2005 to 2017.