The CPI (M) finds itself orphaned by the unexpected demise of 72-year-old Sitaram Yechury, the general secretary of the party. It is not going to be an easy task for the comrades to find a suitable replacement for Yechury, considered to be suave and quite accommodative in the Left parties. Even his rivals held him in esteem for his soft manners easy accessibility and approachability.

The first time he was seen in an embarrassing situation was during the Press meeting convened by the CPI(M) immediately after the 2016 Assembly Election in Kerala. Yechury, with an anguished look, announced that Pinarayi Vijayan would be the Chief Minister of the State. Though it was widely believed that V S Achuthanandan would be appointed as chief minister, the bigwigs in the party including the proprietor of a publishing house in Chennai had other ideas and they ensured the coronation of Vijayan.

Yechury, who was highly critical of Vijayan’s crony capitalist friends, wanted the mantle to be given to VS while others chose Vijayan. As a disciplined comrade, Yechury had no other option and he never forgot his crestfallen face during the presser.

Though highly critical of the NDA Government at the Center, Yechury was open in private conversations about the good things done by the Vajpayee government (1998-2004).

When India conducted a nuclear explosion at Pokhran in May 1998 there was an uproar in the USA, Pakistan and China. The US even blacklisted India from dual technology deals and Indian scientists were denied permission to attend any international conferences on science and technology.

Yechury, who was then a politburo member visited Chennai to address a Press meeting. “Pakistan assembled and exploded a nuclear bomb in such a short time only because of India. There was no need for India to conduct an experiment at this juncture,” said Yechury. He was adamant in his stance that India was responsible for Pakistan going nuclear soon after India did it.

After the Press meeting, this writer got the opportunity for a tete-a-tete with Yechury when he was asked how a country (Pakistan) could assemble a nuclear bomb within 10 days. A smiling Yechury quipped: “Yaar, these are all to score some brownie points. You just report what I told in the press meet.”

During his younger days, Yechury was the superstar of the CPI(M). He was at ease while dealing with political leaders including rivals which had earned him the reputation that “Sitaram is always at a different level”.

Even RSS leaders, the only pronounced enemies of the CPI(M) held Sitaram Yechury in high regard. Yechury, hailing from Telangana remained a popular politician in Tamil Nadu.

Yechury’s major achievement is the research paper “Oil Pool Deficit or Cesspool of Deceit” published in 1997 in which he questioned the propriety of the government hiking petroleum prices regularly citing the oil pool deficit account.

With his demise, what the CPI(M) has lost is the best bridge between the party and the intellectuals as well as the common man. Yechury surpassed all his predecessors in his dealings with the public through his man next door image. He was tasked with selling an outdated ideology to the new generation which was impossible in this era.