India’s prominent Communist leader Yechury dead

Kathmandu- Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, passed away at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, today.

Yechury, 72 had been admitted to the hospital following acute respiratory problems on August 19.

A member of the CPM’S Politburo since 1992, Yechury was elected Party’s General secretary in 2015 succeeding Prakash Karat. He was also the member of the Rajya Sabha for 12 years beginning 2005.

Yechury had joined the left Movement in India right from his early days in the college and was also the President of the Jawahar Lal Nehru University Student Union in the early 70s. Later, he headed the Party’s foreign affairs cell, with the responsibility to interact with communist Parties in the friendly countries, including Nepal.

He played a crucial role in pursuing the government of India led by Man Mohan Singh to support the Maoists and bring them to the center stage of Nepal’s politics in 2005. Yechury remained an occasional visitor but constant observer to Nepal’s politics after it became a republic.