Hassan: Glowing tributes were paid to CPI(M) national general secretary Sitaram Yechury at a condolence memorial meeting at the district unit of the party on Saturday.
“He dedicated his life for Dalits and working class people. His death is an irreparable loss not only to the Communist parties but also to the working class of the entire country,” CPI(M) Hassan district secretary Dharmesh said.
Yechury, who was suffering from severe lung infection, was undergoing treatment at the AIIMS Hospital in New Delhi. He died on September 12.
Speakers recalled that Yechury excelled academically and was admitted to Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for higher studies. Yechury had taken the lead in the protests demanding that Indira Gandhi roll back the Emergency.
From here, he entered the political arena and worked for the poor and working people till his last breath. He served three terms as the President of Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union, twice as the National President of SFI, three times as the party’s national general secretary of CPIM and two terms as Rajya Sabha member.
Participating in the tribute meeting, District Secretary of CPI MC Dongre said Yechury was a great force of Left parties. He said that since 2014, he had continuously conducted a big movement against the Modi government.
Senior journalist RP Venkatesh Murthy said that Yechury’s role was very important in the formation of the democratic government of Nepal. He said that even in the hospital, Yechury was thinking about the country and the poor people. He said that Communist commitment is admirable.
HR Naveen Kumar, District President of the Karnataka State Farmers Union, said Yechury had a huge fan base not only within the Communist Party but also among all other parties and various sections.
“Every speech he made in Parliament is something that should be preserved as a subject for research,” Kumar noted.
In 2004, Yechury played an important role in formulating an equal minimum program for the UPA-1 government, implementing the Radical Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, right to compulsory education and right to forest laws.
Kumar recalled that Yechury had continued to guide the working class movement and secular democratic movement in Karnataka.
“Yechury’s role is huge in uniting all the secular democratic forces of the country for the preservation of the Constitution and the survival of the federal system against the communal fascist Modi government,” he said.
Kumar noted that Yechury has found fulfillment even in death by earlier expressing his wish to donate his body to AIIMS Hospital in Delhi to facilitate medical research.
Before the meeting, dignitaries paid floral tributes to Yechury’s portrait and observed silence. Congress leaders Devarajegowda, Malligevalu Dyyappa, senior Dalit leaders HK Sandesh, Paramashivaiah, Raju Goruru, Pushpa MB, GP Satyanarayana, Aravinda, Mubashir Ahmed and others were present on this occasion. CPI(M) local committee Secretary Prithvi M.G. conducted the programme
