JNU Remembers Its Student Sitaram Yechury

Love, reverence and tears poured inside the hall of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) office on 13 September as hundreds of students and teachers gathered to pay their homage to late Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist). The mortal remains of Yechury were received with rousing slogans of ‘Long Live Comrade’ and waving fists, reminding the mournful audience of the void left behind by the sudden demise of former students’ leader who steered the student movement of the university during one of worst phases of Indian democracy. Here, everyone has his own reason to remember Yechury, lovingly called ‘Sita’ among loved ones.

Sitaram Yechury breathed his last on 12 September after a long fight with a respiratory tract infection. Yechury was instrumental in fighting the suppression of fundamental rights during the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi led Union government in 1975.

Aditi, a student who came to pay her respects, told NewsClick that thousands of students have inherited JNU as a just space for them. Girl students can dream of pursuing research careers. She said, “We realise it that he was among many students leaders who made this place possible through numerous protests and struggles. He could do so because he commanded a clarity of thought. The situation was harsh in Emergency days. It is again becoming like that now too. The present leadership must learn about it.”

N. Sai Balaji, former JNUSU President, has his fond memories of meeting and inviting him for several lectures and events in and outside campus. An emotional Balaji remembers that the death of Yechury remains a brutal shock for young comrades. “I never expected that I would be writing his condolence. We both were raised in Telugu households. My training remained in listening to ballads of Ghadar and speeches of comrade Yechury and, ultimately joining left politics in the university. The students looked up to him as a mentor who left behind him an immense legacy of struggle in Emergency days and forcing Indira Gandhi to resign from Chancellorship to follow.”

He added that JNU students loved him, despite all the differences in shades of red. “They would never miss an opportunity of questioning and speaking to him. He would never make you realise that you are meeting the General Secretary of a communist party. How many leaders are left who would agree to come for a programme organised by the students’ union? He did that because he understood the importance of a students’ union. He never said no to us!”

“What is depressing is that his death came at a time when people of the country are reclaiming Indian democracy. We are fighting to ensure that federalism survives. We are fighting for secularism and plurality of this country to survive.”

Dhananjay, current president of JNUSU told NewsClick that it is a time of mourning for the JNU students’ community. “People like Comrade Yechury never go. They remain with you as a light and inspire you to never give up. We lost a leader who had the capability to take on the politics of hate and fundamentalism. He fought an Emergency then and we are fighting an undeclared one. I think that the struggle has never changed.”

Among the mourners, John Brittas, former JNU student and Managing Editor, Kairali News, told NewsClick, “It is a very emotional moment. This is the campus that produced the political being that Sitaram Yechury was. The value system of this campus has actually created Yechury and it is a suitable tribute that his mortal remains have been brought here. The slogans which have been raised here are all meaningful. They reflect the values that Yechury represented”

When asked about Yechury’s Rajya Sabha stint and present challenges, Brittas, who is also CPI-M’s Rajya Sabha MP said, “It is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of people like me to reach the benchmark that Sitaram Yechury has set. However, the way in which he treaded the House, how he fought against the fascist forces is an inspiration to us and we keep every word that he spoke in the House in our mind so that we have the right trajectory ahead of us. Sometimes we appreciate leaders that their absence is hard to fill. Our emotions provoke us to say so. However, the words are simply true in case of comrade Sitaram Yechury. I am only talking about left politics. I am talking about the politics that is required to fight these fascist forces. A person like Sitaram Yechury’s contribution, stature everything was required and necessary. That’s why it is a difficult time and it’s a huge loss.”