Sitaram Yechury | Photo Credit: Satheesh Vellinezhi In 2016, soon after the CPI(M) and the Left Democratic Front coasted to victory in the Kerala Assembly elections, riding primarily on the popularity of veteran leader V.S. Achuthanandan, a crisis of immense proportions loomed over the win.The party chose to elect Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan to helm the new government, contrary to the wishes of Mr. Achuthanandan, who was in his early 90s at the time. Sitaram Yechury, the party general secretary, assuaged the veteran leader’s hurt sentiments by describing him as “the Fidel Castro” of the party in Kerala. This helped ease tensions. Sitaram, as he was fondly called by his party comrades, had a reputation for being affable to a fault. In arguments, he never lost his cool, nor did he reject a critical or even uncharitable question. He chose to respond to sneering remarks with a smile — a quality that helped him become one of the architects of the INDIA bloc involving the Congress, even when the Kerala unit of his party abhorred the idea.Mr. Yechury acted as the bridge that linked warring factions in the party and with democratic forces outside of it. Also read | Sitaram Yechury, the quintessential Marxist-LeninistHis intellectual brilliance shone bright from his college days, says M.A. Baby, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, who had worked with Mr. Yechury from the late 1970s. “As editor of Student Struggle, which became a magazine when its office was moved to Delhi, he got it redesigned and commissioned scholarly articles on many things, including the theory of relativity. He asked me to interview Cuban filmmaker Tomas Alea for the magazine. B.T. Ranadive used to observe his work closely with appreciation,” says Mr. Baby.Mr. Yechury was adept at preparing minutes of meetings in tiny notepads. “He had very legible handwriting and a sharp mind,” says Mr. Baby, whose discussions with Mr. Yechury ranged from politics to culture, society, books, music, and tennis. After their meetings, they would find time to discuss Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal matches. “He was a good tennis player, too,” Mr. Baby recalls.An avid reader, Mr. Yechury, a central secretariat member of the party at the time, was chosen to draft the party’s positions after the setbacks to socialism in Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the Soviet Union at the 14th party congress of the CPI(M) in Madras (now Chennai) in 1992. In the presence of many stalwarts, he was asked to present the resolution. It was at this party congress that he was elected to the Polit Bureau, recalls Mr. Baby.Mr. Yechury, Mr. Baby believes, carried the moral courage, democratic spirit, and intellectual might to challenge the rising undemocratic practices in the country.CPI(M) veteran S. Ramachandran Pillai, who worked with Mr. Yechury from 1985 until Mr. Pillai left organisational roles in the party due to age criteria, views Mr. Yechury’s demise as a loss for the Left parties and democracy. “He was good at international affairs and had a solid understanding of economics. This was beneficial for the party. We were all like a family, as we stayed in the same building in Delhi for many years,” Mr. Pillai recalls.Actor Mammootty called him an efficient statesman and a wonderful human being. Published – September 12, 2024 10:06 pm IST