Sitaram Yechury: Interlocutor Par Excellence

Yechury proved his mettle as a Communist leader in a gloomy scenario. The global landscape of Communism of his youth ceased to exist when he became a member of the party's Politburo in 1992.  A series of catastrophic events at a frightening pace left CPI-M gasping for answers. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the advent of neoliberalism, and the menacing rise of majoritarian Hindutva dealt a severe blow to the CPI-M. The collapse of the Soviet bloc and China's assiduous cultivation of private capital raised serious questions about the socialist project advocated by Communist parties. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that even die-hard CPI-M cadres/supporters started doubting the validity of the socialist project. The erosion of faith in the socialist project severely dented the political fortunes of the CPI-M. The electoral routs in West Bengal and Tripura were partly due to the loss of hope in the socialist utopia promised by the CPI-M and other Left parties.  

Yechury was foremost among the CPI-M leadership to realise the need for a course correction. He was convinced that the emergence of Hindutva and Narendra Modi called for a new political vocabulary and alignments. He was honest enough to understand that the CPI-M’s traditional antipathy towards Congress will not help the Left in its task of countering the BJP. It is well known that a good section of CPI-M leaders opposed his push for joining hands with the Congress at the national level. He pursued his mission despite the lackadaisical support from his party colleagues. He played a key role in forming the INDIA bloc ahead of the 2024 general elections. The CPI-M Politburo has acknowledged this in its homage to the departed leader. “In the recent period, Sitaram Yechury devoted a lot of his time and energy towards forging a broad unity of the secular opposition parties, which took the shape of the INDIA bloc,” it said. The Politburo has also described him as “one of the key interlocutors for the CPI(M), which was supporting these coalitions”.

Absence of Yechury      

The absence of Yechury will hit CPI-M and the INDIA bloc. The CPI-M will find it very hard to find a replacement for him. As someone who had a personal relationship with all prominent INDIA leaders, he could obtain a dignified status for the CPI-M and other Left parties in the bloc despite their limited electoral strength. His demise comes at a time when the CPI-M in Kerala, the only remaining citadel of the party in the country, is being rocked by a series of allegations against the state administration headed by Pinarayi Vijayan, a member of the Politburo.           

The personal rapport of Yechury with most leaders also helped iron out differences amongst the constituents of the INDIA bloc during the Lok Sabha elections, paving the way to putting up single candidates against the BJP in major states like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The demise of Yechury may also hamper prospects of further consolidation of the INDIA bloc.

An amiable person by nature, Yechury shaped himself into an astute political leader by learning to negotiate the treacherous paths of politics in Delhi. Just like any national capital, Delhi has its fair share of intrigues and conspiracies. But Yechury and his ilk had the good fortune of staying away from such a stultifying environment as his party was not in the race for political power in Delhi. The CPI-M was realistic in confining its aspirations to gaining and keeping power in Bengal and Kerala. Comrades in those places far from Delhi proved adept at fulfilling that ambition. For persons like Yechury at the national level, it was a unique opportunity to master the political vocabulary of the national capital in a relatively sanitised environment. They emerged as political leaders with vision, clarity, and commitment to the most deprived sections of society. Yechury proved to be one of the best among them.

(K P Sethunath is a senior journalist.)