‘Our go-to person’: JNU bids farewell to Comrade Sitaram Yechury

Half a century ago, it was from the same JNU campus that Yechury, who would later become the most recognisable face of the Left politics in the country, took the political plunge.

After graduating in Economics from Delhi University’s St Stephen’s College, he joined JNU for his post-graduation. “He was our go-to person,” said former JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, remembering the popular communist leader. “Whenever JNU students were in trouble, Comrade Yechury would always stand by our side… Even in 2016, when JNU was being painted as an anti-national university, he stood by us,” she said.

JNUSU president Dhananjay echoed similar views. “When JNU’s name was being ruined by a few sections of people, he always defended JNU and its model where the deprived get the opportunity to access high-class education. Today is a sad day for the JNU community,” he said.

Yechury joined politics as a Student Federation of India (SFI) activist at JNU in 1974. A year later, he joined the CPI(M) and soon found himself organising “resistance” to the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi, due to which he had to go into hiding and spend some time under arrest.

One of the lasting images from the Emergency period is of a young Yechury standing beside Indira Gandhi after having led a JNU students march to her residence in 1977 and reading out a long list of grievances against her and seeking her resignation as the chancellor of the university named after her father. Gandhi was holding on to the post after her defeat in the Lok Sabha elections held post-Emergency.

Ghosh, who is also affiliated with the SFI, recalls that Yechury did not just show solidarity through his words, but reached out to the students by coming to the campus and encouraging the student community to stand up for what they believed in. “Even during the student elections at JNU, he would always show up whenever we invited (him) to speak about the importance of student politics,” she said.

Pointing towards people from various political spectra who had arrived to pay their respects to Yechury, she said, “He touched everyone, fought for a larger cause and connected with people”.

Incessant rain that lashed Delhi since Thursday night did not stop Uttar Pradesh SFI secretary Prabudh Singh from rushing to Delhi to bid adieu to Yechury. “I came from Meerut on my bike. I had to pay my respects to Comrade Yechury,” he said.

Singh recalled how Yechury, despite topping his classes through most of his student years, chose to dedicate his life for the public. “…that is what inspires youngsters like us. This is a rare quality… Yechury was the CPI (M) general secretary and yet, he was so approachable.”