Sitaram Yechury's Family Honours Left Tradition, Donates Body To Science

Veteran Left leader and Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury died on Thursday afternoon after undergoing treatment for respiratory ailments for over three weeks at AIIMS in New Delhi, and his family has donated his body to the hospital for research and teaching purposes. 

"Sitaram Yechury, aged 72, was admitted to AIIMS on 19th August 2024 with pneumonia and passed away on 12th September 2024 at 3:05 PM. The family has donated his body to AIIMS, New Delhi for teaching and research purposes," the hospital said in a statement. The body will be given to the hospital on Friday.

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By donating his body to science, Yechury has joined a long list of Left leaders who have done so in the past. The body of former West Bengal Chief Minister and CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who died at the age of 80 last month, was donated to the Nil Ratan Sircar (NRS) Medical College in Kolkata. The fomer chief minister had pledged his body to Ganadarpan, an NGO, in March 2006. 

Bhattacharjee's predecessor, Jyoti Basu, who was the Bengal chief minister for 34 years, had pledged his body in April 2003 and it was donated to Kolkata's SSKM hospital after his death in 2010. Former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who was associated with the CPI(M) for most of his political journey, had taken an oath that he would donate his body in the year 2000 and his family fulfilled it after his death in 2018.

Some other Left leaders who donated their body were former CPI(M) secretary Anil Biswas and veteran party leader Benoy Chowdhury. 

Donated bodies are used by hospitals and medical colleges for research and education. They help researchers advance science, future doctors understand the human anatomy and physicians develop new surgical procedures. 

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Yechury had started his political career with the student wing of the CPI(M) in 1975 and had been a member of its top decision making body, the Politburo, for three decades. Tributes poured in from politicians across the spectrum, including Trinamool chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is one of the CPI(M)'s most strident opponents. 

While Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi termed Yechury a "protector of the Idea of India" and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said his contributions would always be remembered, Ms Banerjee posted on X: "Sad to know that Sri Sitaram Yechury has passed away. I knew the veteran parliamentarian that he was and his demise will be a loss for the national politics. I express my condolences to his family, friends and colleagues."