By Jose Kavi
New Delhi, Sept 13, 2024: Catholic bishops in India have mourned the death of Sitaram Yechury, the top Marxist leader in the country and product of Christian educational institutions.
Yechury, the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), died on September 12 after suffering from an acute respiratory infection. He was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi on August 19 after his condition turned critical in September. He was 72.
His family has donated his body to AIIMS for teaching and research purposes.
A day after Yechury’s death, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) expressed “profound grief” and hailed the Marxist leader for standing “as a steadfast advocate for the rights of minorities and worked tirelessly to ensure their voices were heard” throughout his political career.
The Church’s leader, Archbishop Raphael Thattil, recalled that Yechury had made decisive contributions to unite and strengthen the secular and democratic forces in India. The people in India will always remember Yechury because of the good deeds he had done for society, he added.
CBCI president Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur, remarked, “Sitaram Yechury was a leader who truly understood the concerns of the marginalized. His unwavering commitment to justice and equality will be deeply missed by all.”
Archbishop Anil Couto, CBCI secretary general, said Yechuri’s “concern for justice to the minorities and his tireless efforts to uphold secular values in our country have left an indelible mark. His passing is a great loss to the nation.”
Yechury was born on August 12, 1952, into a Telugu family in Madras (now Chennai). His father Sarveswara Somayajula Yechury and mother Kalpakam Yechury are natives of Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh. His father was an engineer in the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation. His mother was a government officer.
Yechury grew up in Hyderabad, and studied until tenth grade at the All Saints High School, managed by the Montfort Brothers there. The Telangana agitation of 1969 brought him to Delhi where he joined Presidents Estate School and secured all India first rank in the Central Board of Secondary Education Higher Secondary Examination.
Subsequently, he studied B.A. (Honors) in Economics at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and M A in Economics, from Jawaharlal Nehru University. He joined the JNU for a doctorate in Economics, but aborted it after his arrest during the 1975-1977 Emergency.
Yechury was married to Seema Chisti, the editor of The Wire, and formerly the Delhi editor of BBC Hindi Service. He was earlier married to Indrani Mazumdar and has a daughter and a son from that marriage.
His daughter, Akhila Yechury teaches at the University of Edinburgh and University of St. Andrews. His son Ashish Yechury died in April 2021 due to COVID-19, at the age of 34.