OBITUARY: Sitaram Yechury

What was remarkable about Sitaram Yechury was the extent to which he broke away from his own class background and the career choices typically made by youth from his background, and that too without any fuss or obtrusion. He came from a well-to-do traditional family, went to St. Stephen’s College for his undergraduate studies, then to Jawaharlal Nehru University for his Master’s and research work, and got brilliant results everywhere. His normal career trajectory would have taken him to some prestigious foreign university for further studies, and then to the diplomatic service or the academic profession where he would have earned great distinction. Instead he joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) as a wholetimer, and remained a communist activist\ till his last breath.