Sitaram Yechury liked to make jokes about his name. He used to say, “I own Sita and Ram! I am against Ram”. Not only that, he used to declare: “Despite my admiration for the significant impact this puranic figure has had on Indian society, I am an atheist communist”. Sitaram Yechury is no longer with us. His ideological friend Buddhadeb Bhattacharya passed away a few days earlier. Sitaram’s exit now appears to be that of an artisan who followed a liberal route in Marxist philosophy. Sitaram Yechury was a communist-atheist with a humanitarian heart. A man who supported Indian pluralism with great conviction. It was easy for him to like Nehru’s way of thinking. All of them, even the late Chief Minister Jyoti Bose and the late Harkishan Singh Surjit, also known as Somnath Chatterjee, were at ease with Sitaram. He was a pragmatic leader discussing how to topple Narendra Modi’s BJP from the national political scene with Rahul Gandhi and other non-BJP politicians just a few days before he left.
Any notable person who rises to a particular height has a large circle built around him. As a result, he grew close to a wide range of individuals from various backgrounds and occupations. I also acquired a piece of Sitaram Yechury’s big sky when working as a journalist in Delhi.
There’s something that comes to mind.
On a chilly morning, Comrade dialled me, and the first thing he said was that he was in dire need of multiple books authored by Swami Vivekananda. ‘East and West’ is one of them and ‘Karma Yoga’ is the other.
Oh, father, I exclaimed.
Did JNU’s communist convert, Sitaram, ask for these?
This story is from the September 16, 2024 edition of Millennium Post Delhi.
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This story is from the September 16, 2024 edition of Millennium Post Delhi.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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