The CPIM lost one of its staunchest pillars today as Sitaram Yechury, the party’s three-time general secretary, strategist, think tank, author and editor of its mouthpiece People’s Democracy for over two decades, died at the age of 72 today. The veteran leader had been ailing for some time and was admitted at Delhi’s All-India Institute of Medical Sciences or AIIMS. He was being treated for acute respiratory tract infection and was on respiratory support.
Over the last five decades, Yechury, a former Rajya Sabha MP from Bengal, left his imprint not just on the CPM but also the national political canvas — playing an active role in drawing up the Common Minimum Programme for the United Front government in 1996. He was also a key figure in the coalition-building during the formation of the United Progressive Alliance government in 2004 — a role for which he was regarded as the bearer of the legacy of veteran party leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet.