With the death of CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, an era has come to an end in Indian politics. Yechury, who started his political career as a member of the Students’ Federation of India at Jawaharlal Nehru University, served as a Rajya Sabha MP for 12 years, from 2005 to 2017. He became the fifth general secretary of the CPI (M) in 2015 and took over from Prakash Karat. Yechury had friends from across the political spectrum. Since 2014, the BJP has been a dominant force in the country with its Hindutva politics. Many political parties, including the Congress, have been accused of indulging in soft Hindutva.
Even during this, Sitaram Yechury never allowed the CPI (M) to divert from its core ideology. He remained one of the strongest critics of the BJP’s Hindutva politics. Yechury continued to espouse the idea of India – a secular and socialist republic which was envisaged by the founding fathers. He played a crucial role in the formation of the INDIA alliance and his death will be a big loss for the alliance. It is going to be a Herculean task for the Left parties to find someone like him again. Over the years the Left parties have seen decline and are in power only in Kerala. Once they had strongholds in states like West Bengal and Tripura. They will have to find someone who is connected to the youth and who can gel with other parties. The death of Yechury has presented a massive challenge to the Left parties.