A polyglot with a global attitude: Sitaram Yechury

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Newly elected general secretary of the CPM Sitaram Yechury is the most popular face of the party in the country.

Born in August 12, 1952 in Chennai, Yechury who belongs to Telegu Brahmin family, joined the Students Federation of India (SFI) in 1974 as the national joint secretary and one year later the CPM.

Ahead of his entry into the student movement, in 1970 Yechury secured a first class first in School Leaving Examinations and joined St Stephen’s Delhi.

He completed his MA Economics in first class from JNU in 1975. However, he could not complete his Ph.D from JNU following his arrest during the emergency. Prior to his arrest, Yechury had gone underground for a brief period trying to organise resistance to democracy.

Soon after Emergency, he was elected president of JNU Students Union for three times during the period 1977-78. Subsequently he went on to become the national president of SFI.

In 1984 he was made special invitee to the CPM central committee and subsequently inducted into the top panel at the 12th Congress in 1985, central secretariat in 1988 and to the politburo at the 14th Congress in 1992.

Yechury was elected to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal in July 2005 and then in 2011.  He has made a mark in the Upper House, becoming one of the most prominent voices of Opposition. 

During the recent Parliament session, on March 3, 2015 Yechury moved an amendment to the President’s Address which was passed by division of votes in Rajya Sabha causing huge embarrassment to the Modi Government.

This was the fourth time in the history of Rajya Sabha that an amendment moved by Opposition to the motion of thanks to the President address had been passed.

He is perhaps one of the most widely travelled politician in the country. The party used to depute him as fraternal delegate to the party conferences of most socialist countries.

Yechury was entrusted the crucial task of preparing the resolution on international affairs after the collapse of Soviet Union in 1992.

The CPM leader is also considered the trouble shooter and whenever there is a crisis in the party, people look forward to him. A prolific writer, he has authored many books and his fortnightly column in English daily is now almost a decade old.

Yechury is continuing as editor of party mouthpiece Peoples Democracy for the past 20 years. A polyglot, Yechury can handle English, Hindi, Telegu, Tamil and Bangla which makes him a popular leader across the country.

Yechury is married to journalist Seema Chisti formerly Delhi Editor of BBC Hindi service and currently consulting editor of a leading English Daily in Delhi.