Tamil Nadu CM pays tribute to Sitaram Yechury

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday paid tribute to Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury who passed away on September 12 at AIIMS Delhi. Sitaram Yechury was suffering from a respiratory tract infection.

"Kudos to Comrade Sitaram Yechury who fought for people's rights all his life. Even after his death, he will always be cherished by the people," CM Stalin said.

On Saturday, DMK MP Kanimozhi paid her last respect to Sitaram Yechury, "I am here on behalf of my party and also on a personal level to pay my respects to a very important and great leader of this country. His loss is not just a political one. He was a thinker, a writer, a philosopher, and also a great inspiration to the next generation of politicians. He was one leader who was loved and respected by all across party lines," she said.

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal also paid his last respects and said, "In this country, most of all the politicians only think about their benefit and when they would be able to come to power. Only people like Sitaram Yechury gave their lives for other people and not for themselves. He knew he would never come to power."

Further, Sibal added, "He was a very dear friend of mine. We have spent time together in politics and the Rajya Sabha. He used to mesmerise the Parliament with his interventions. The breadth of knowledge, the empathy for the ordinary people that he had is present in very less people. His demise is a very big loss for the nation."

Sitaram Yechury joined the CPI(M) in 1975. He was arrested during the emergency for his political activities. He was elected to the Central Committee of the Party in 1985 at the 12th Congress and he remained in the Central Committee till now.

Yechury was elected to the Central Secretariat in 1989 and to the Polit Bureau in 1992 at the 14th Congress of the Party. He was elected as the General Secretary of the CPI(M) at the 21st Congress in 2015, a position he continued until now.

Sitaram Yechury was a member of the Rajya Sabha for two terms from 2005 to 2017. He served as the leader of the CPI(M) group and was an effective parliamentarian. He was given the best parliamentarian award in 2017.