CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury passes away at 72

NEW DELHI: CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury passed away on Thursday after battling respiratory illness. He was 72. He was undergoing treatment at AIIMS Delhi for respiratory infection. Yechury was admitted to AIIMS on August 19 . He was on a ventilator for four days. A team of expert doctors was monitoring him.

Sitaram Yechury was born on August 12 in 1952 in Madras to an Andhra Brahmin couple Sarveswara Somayajula Yechury and Kalpakkam. Raised in Hyderabad, Yechury attended All Saints High School till class 10. After joining 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.

His wife is Seema Christie, a journalist. He started his political career in 1974 through SFI. A state of emergency was declared in the country during his studies at JNU. He was arrested before completing his doctorate after raising a protest against the emergency. After his release from prison, he resumed his studies. During the same period, Yechury was elected as JNU student union president thrice.