NEW DELHI: Hundreds of students and faculty members of Jawaharlal Nehru University paid tribute to late CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, as his body was kept at the JNUSU office for paying homage on Friday.
Yechury (72), a pragmatic Communist and one of the key architects of the Left bastion in JNU, died on Thursday at a hospital here after battling a lung infection.With the famous “Laal Salam” slogan, Left supporters paid respect to the Left stalwart, whose mortals were kept in a casket adorned with flowers.
The JNUSU and JNUTA had jointly organised a programme on the campus and sought permission to bring Yechury’s body to the campus before his body was sent back to his house in Vasant Kunj.
“Long live comrade Sitaram Yechury” read a banner placed above the garlanded photograph of the veteran leader surrounded with the students and faculty members.
As a student at JNU, Yechury was a part of the Students Federation of India (SFI), which he joined in 1974 and was arrested a few months later during the Emergency.
He served as the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) thrice during 1977-78.
On Yechury’s death, JNU Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said, “Sitaram Yechury, one of the country’s leading figures in the Left Movement, was also a vibrant leader during his student days and president of the JNU Student Union.
With his sharp knowledge and experience, he championed the voices of the subaltern. With his gentle, polite and charming demeanor, even during political disagreements, he reached out to different political views for a broader consensus. JNU respects and expresses its condolences to one of its illustrious alumni.”
Moushumi Basu, President of Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA) said, “As a Parliamentarian, he was also a member of the JNU Court. He was vociferous in his criticism against the hate campaign launched against the university in 2016 and the murderous attack on JNU faculty and students in January 2020.”
