Saddened by the passing away of Shri Sitaram Yechury Ji. He was a leading light of the Left and was known for his ability to connect across the political spectrum,” PM Modi said in an X post.
Sitaram Yechury, the three-time chief of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), passed away on Thursday at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after a prolonged illness. He was 72 years old.
Modi added that Yechury made a mark as an “effective parliamentarian,” and said, “My thoughts are with his family and admirers in this sad hour. Om Shanti.”
Yechury took over CPI(M) leadership in April 2015 from Prakash Karat, who was known for his hardline stance. Unlike Karat, Yechury excelled in coalition politics, much like his mentor, the late Harkishan Singh Surjeet. While Surjeet played a crucial role in the coalition governments of the National Front and United Front, Yechury was a key figure during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) years from 2004 to 2014.
Born in Chennai, Yechury studied at Delhi’s St. Stephen’s College and Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was a close ally of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, particularly during Manmohan Singh’s tenure as prime minister. Yechury was the first non-Congress leader Gandhi approached in 2004, after she declined the prime ministerial position and supported Singh instead.