Salute to Comrade Yechury!

Yechury did not limit his presence as a leader of a Left party. He played the role of a spokesperson for all democratic forces. In his stint as a Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha, he spoke against the authoritarian and fundamentalist forces in the most powerful way and never had to resort to such gestures that are common to attract media attention

The death of Comrade Sitaram Yechury may be routine news for the corporate-controlled media, but it is painful for those who find Indian politics in a whirlpool of bigotry and hypocrisy. It is a coincidence that the news of the death of Yechury came on the day when the video of Prime Minister Modi’s visiting the Ganesh Pooja ceremony at the residence of Chief Justice YV Chandrachud went viral on social media. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences makes a statement to inform how the tall leader of the communist movement died of pneumonia and his body has been donated to the Institute for teaching and research.

It hardly needs any speculation what Yechury's reaction would have been to the PM’s visit to the Chief Justice’s residence. However, one thing was sure: he would have commented on the issue with his characteristic humor and smile. In his death, the Indian democracy lost one of the stalwarts who pursued politics without grudge and vengeance. Is it not imperative to underline this fact at a time when politics has been reduced to settling scores and displaying vengeance?

Yechury has his share of contributions to the history of independent India, and they require a recap. He, along with a few other Left stalwarts, has witnessed the rise and fall of the communist movement in India. He had the fortune of enjoying the high tide of communist influence over parliamentary politics in the country. He has seen how Jyoti Basu’s name was proposed for the post of Prime Minister, and the grand old man declined the offer, abiding by the decision of his party. He had seen how his mentor and then CPIM General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjit had become central figures of the coalition politics in India, and all the non-BJP parties, including the Indian National Congress, depended on him for smart strategies against the danger of communal and capitalist forces’ taking over the power. He played a similar role afterward.

A close look into the history of the Left movement will tell us how he, after Surjit, remained one of the main architects of a joint front of all democratic forces against the authoritarian and communal politics of the RSS and the BJP. Recently, he played an important role in stitching together the INDIA alliance.

He led a declining CPIM at a time when the latter was losing ground in its bastions in all parts of the country, including West Bengal. It is easy to lead a rising movement but not a declining movement. It was also not easy either for Surjit or him to adjust the Stalinist stance of the CPIM to the politics of identity and opportunism that had emerged in the nineteen eighties. He led the party when it was faced with unpopularity and ideological confusion in its most challenging forms. He articulated a new stance for the party to make it stand in a parliamentary democracy. He had to carve a way through in an environment where socialism was reduced to social justice and the trade union movement was struggling for survival. He had to battle against surging saffron crowds chanting Jai Shri Ram, and the selfless Leftists were being branded Tukde Tukde Gang (people who would split India).

It was not easy for a Stalinist party to join hands with the forces that were, in its eye, promoting identity politics and supporting corporate takeover of the economy. The hardcore in his movement was opposed to any such adjustments. But he should be credited with taking the party along with him in allying with different forces against the communal and authoritarian forces. It must not be taken as a simple ideological stride but a personal triumph as well. This victory owes much to his personality. No media person, including those who despise his ideology, has ever heard him say hard words. His upbringing as a student leader at Jawaharlal Nehru University might have a lot to do with it. The JNU could still boast of having an environment of dialogue and intellectualism even after the worst kinds of attacks on it.

Yechury did not limit his presence as a leader of a Left party. He played the role of a spokesperson for all democratic forces. In his stint as a Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha, he spoke against the authoritarian and fundamentalist forces in the most powerful way and never had to resort to such gestures that are common to attract media attention. He always spoke as a public intellectual who was concerned with issues of the common public. His speeches in Parliament on mob lynching, attacks on educational institutions like JNU, and atrocities on Dalits touched the hearts of those who were concerned over the changing political environment of the country.

In a person like Yechury, we can trace such elements, which could help people grow as good democrats. People have seen the days when he used to be a popular face on TV channels. The media changed its character, and opposition leaders suddenly became non-entities for them. However, Yechury never lost his nerve on this change. He took it stoically.

Yechury’s life takes us to the inspiring journey of an upper-caste Telugu youth who left a promising academic career to become a full-time communist activist. It reminds us of the golden era of Indian democracy when several young people were restless to change the world to make it more humane. It must be noted how this desire did not die in him despite the setbacks his ideology had to face in the past few decades. The Soviet Union, a symbol of a new world based on principles of socialism, had collapsed, Babri Masjid was demolished, signifying the death of secularism in India, and the CPIM lost its hold in West Bengal, which had given the longest surviving elected government of the Left. These events did not deter him from fighting back. Salute to Comrade Yechury!

(The author is a senior journalist. He has experience of working with leading newspapers and electronic media including Deccan Herald, Sunday Guardian, Navbharat Times and Dainik Bhaskar. He writes on politics, society, environment and economy)