New Delhi: CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury's family donated his body to the All India Institute Of Medical Sciences Delhi (AIIMS), New Delhi, for teaching and research purposes following his passing.
"The family has donated his body to AIIMS, New Delhi, for teaching and research purposes," AIIMS said in an official release.
Yechury's body will be kept at the CPM headquarters in New Delhi between 11 am and 3 pm on Saturday for public viewing and homage. Afterwards, his body will be donated to AIIMS for medical research in accordance with his wishes.
Yechury was admitted to AIIMS on August 19 for treatment of a pneumonia-like chest infection. He was in a critical condition and on oxygen support. Sources confirmed he had a fungal infection in his lungs.
Yechury is survived by his wife, Seema Chishti, an editor with The Wire.
He has three children – two sons and a daughter. His son, Ashish Yechury, passed away due to COVID-19 in 2021. His daughter, Akhila Yechury, is a professor at the University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews. Yechury was previously married to Indrani Mazumdar.
In one of his final video messages, Yechury paid tribute to former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. In a message recorded from AIIMS on August 22, he expressed his regret for being unable to attend Bhattacharjee's memorial in person. "It is most unfortunate that I had to connect from AIIMS to convey my feelings, emotions, and revolutionary Lal Salaam to Buddho da," he said.
Sitaram Yechury began his political career as a member of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He rose through the ranks of the CPI(M), becoming a member of the party's Central Committee in 1984 and the Politburo in 1992.
He served as a Rajya Sabha MP from 2005 to 2017 and became the fifth General Secretary of the CPI(M) at the 21st party congress in Visakhapatnam on April 19 2015, succeeding Prakash Karat.
Yechury also played a key role in the formation of the joint opposition's INDIA bloc and was regarded as a political mentor to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the current Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
(With PTI Inputs)
