Family, friends, admirers, and comrades bid a final adieu to Sitaram Yechury, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary on Saturday, as his mortal remains were brought to the party headquarters for people from all walks of life to pay their last respects.
At 3:30 p.m., he left the party office for one last time, with a winding trail of mourners following in the wake of the funeral cortege, holding his photographs and raising slogans.
Wrapped in the iconic red flag, Yechury’s mortal remains were brought to the party headquarters for the public to pay homage. National leaders across the political spectrum including Congress leader Sonia Gandhi paid their last respects to Yechury.
Among those who offered their tributes were Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh, as well as NCP-SCP chief Sharad Pawar.
Sonia Gandhi reached the AKG Bhavan along with the other party leaders to pay her last respects to Yechury and reminisced her friendship with the Left leader.
He was the first non-Congress leader Gandhi called after she met then president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam in 2004 when she turned down the prime minister’s post and rallied for Dr Manmohan Singh, an equation that survived the shock withdrawal of support by the Left to the UPA in 2008 over the Indo-US nuclear deal.
She also gave him due credits for contributing to the formation of the INDIA bloc – he played a distinctive role in creating this broad unity of secular parties.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav called Yechury “one of the greatest leaders of the country”, noting his efforts to build bridges between ideologies when necessary. “He struggled all his life and devoted his entire life to spreading his ideology to the masses. The country has lost a mature leader,” Yadav remarked.
“The untimely demise of Sitaram Yechury at this crucial juncture in our national politics is a big blow for the CPI(M) and a grievous loss for the Left, democratic and secular forces. The Polit Bureau calls upon all party ranks to unite and work harder to advance the struggle for an exploitation-free society. This is the best tribute that can be paid to him,” a statement issued by the CPM said.