Sitaram Yechury

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sitaram Yechury

• He was born in a Telugu family in Madras and did most of his schooling in Andhra Pradesh.

• He shifted to Delhi after the Telangana agitation of 1969, from where he completed his higher studies.

• He was influenced by the Communist movement in his school days.

• He achieved the All-India first rank in the CBSE Examination.

• In 1974, he joined the Student Federation of India.

  

• He was a sportsperson in his college and loved to play lawn tennis. He also represented his university in lawn tennis.

• In 1975, he was put behind bars for opposing Internal Emergency. He was then elected as the President of the JNU’s Student Union.

• In 1978, he was selected as the All-India Joint Secretary of SFI and later went on to become the All-India President of SFI. He left SFI in 1986.

• In 1984, he was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI(M).

  

• His first wife was the daughter of Vina Mazumdar, an academic and left-wing activist. He had two sons and a daughter with her. He then later married Seema Chisti, the Resident Editor of Indian Express.

• He was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in July 2005.

• He was a strong critic of the U.S.A.’s foreign policy and also criticised the visit of Barack Obama on Republic Day.

• Yechury wrote many great books like “Left Hand Drive”, “What is this Hindu Rashtra”, “Socialism in 21st Century”, “Communalism vs Secularism,” and “Ghrina Ki Rajniti.”

• On 19 April 2015, Sitaram was elected as the General Secretary of CPI (M) in Vishakhapatnam.

• In April 2018, he was re-elected as the General Secretary of CPI (M).

• Yechury had also headed the Party’s International Department.

• On 19 August 2024, he was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi after his health deteriorated due to a respiratory tract infection due to pneumonia.