Sitaram Yechury is a prominent Indian politician, a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. He is widely regarded as one of the most astute political thinkers in the country and has played a significant role in shaping the Left movement in India.
Born on August 12, 1952, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Yechury grew up in a politically active family. His father, S. Sitaramaiah, was a renowned trade unionist, and his mother, Kalpakam, was a leader of the women’s movement. Yechury graduated from the University of Delhi with a degree in Economics and went on to complete his Master’s degree in the same subject from the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Yechury’s political career began in the 1970s when he joined the Students Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI(M). He rose through the ranks of the organization and became its President in 1978. In the same year, he joined the CPI(M) and was elected to the party’s Central Committee in 1985.
Yechury played a key role in building the CPI(M)’s presence in West Bengal, one of India’s most politically significant states. He was the party’s state secretary in West Bengal from 1998 to 2015 and was instrumental in the Left Front’s victory in the state assembly elections in 2006.
Yechury is a prolific writer and thinker, and his contributions to the field of political economy are widely recognized. He has authored several books on Marxist theory and Indian politics, including “The Indian Road to Socialism” and “Marxist Theory: A Critique.”