very Grim news which came in earlier today veteran left leader and CPM General Secretary sitaram Yuri passed away this afternoon he was 72 years of old of age and was undergoing treatment for Respiratory ailment at all India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi here's a look at The Life and Times of Mr yui [Music] a pragmatic communist an intellectual giant a builder of coalitions with friends across political lines the cpm's most well-known face for several decades sitaram Yuri was a quintessential politician Who Rose from the post of University Union president to the cpm's general secretary his speeches in Parliament peppered with wit sarcasm and historical references were a treat to watch I born in a Hindu traditional family had my V part done and my thread ceremony done at the age of 11 having studied all The Vedas then you say with a name like sitaram with all the Vedas why have you landed up as a communist I've landed up as a communist because I've studied all of them Yuri joined the students Federation of India in 1974 and a year later he became a member of the Communist Party of India Marxist he was elected the president of the fame jnu students union th in the late '70s along with prakash karat Yuri is credited to have played a key role in establishing a strong leftest Presence at the gnu that holds still date in 1975 while still a student at jnu he was arrested during the emergency a veteran of many political battles Yuri's most famous prop is against Indira Gandhi after the emergency the jnu students union led by sitaram Yuri forced Indira Gandhi to resign as a chancellor of the University a master of many languages Yuri would talk to his party comrades in different languages in Bengali to joti Basu in Telugu to mbas Puna in Tamil to EMS nud and in Hindi to harkishan Singh surjit Yuri is known for continuing the Coalition building Legacy of former General Secretary and his mentor harkishan Singh sujit he collaborated with padamaram to draft the common minimum program for the united front government in 1996 and played a key role in the Coalition building efforts during the formation of the United Progressive Alliance government in 2004 the left saw its best and worst times under yeturi from 60 seats that repelled the UPA to power in 20 4 to a near decimation now political ups and downs aside comrade Yuri remained committed to secularism and democracy and steadfastly opposed communalism and hindutva politics till his last breath with Muhammad Asim Bureau report [Music] indtv let me bring in Pavan warma someone um who studied with uh m comrade yui in St Stevens College in the national capital and has had several fond memories with him uh Mr WMA of course this is a very tough time for his friends and family um as someone who studied with him in St Stevens College and also you know traveled several miles with him in his political Journey what's your best memory of comrade yudi you know uh we were in contemporaries in college although pursuing different subjects we were also together in Parliament later I think sitaram was the most aable reasonable balanced accessible communist leader I have ever met uh he was actually a consensus maker he never adopted a confrontationist St style except on matters of non-negotiable ideology that was his lovable trade and he had a Simplicity about it right from his college days uh where he dressed simply lived simply smoked charm Minar incessant and uh was the kind of dedicated grassroot reced educated communist CPI committed member who was a great asset to public life I mean I used to see him in Parliament when I was there and we were friends and we used to chat but sitaram Yuri always came out uh as a as if as a consensus Builder or as one who was seeking to find a solution rather than an impass and this became apparent in on many occasions there was one occasion Maria where he I had I approached him at the time when Dr Karen Singh was a very likely possibility for the president of India and a very good choice also but prakash karat his colleague in the cpim mm had put his foot down on the fact that he came from a royal lineage which Dr karing had renounced long ago when he joined Democratic politics under the ttil of javahar n so I called sitar and sitam said I absolutely agree with you this should not be held against him but he said that it's difficult to reason with perhaps the party position or Mr prakash karat so he was always open to finding the right solution I can't I can't tell you what a great loss it is not only for me personally uh but uh for uh the country's public life yes uh Mr Verma certainly just about every politician that I've spoken to has great memories and have has has some great words for comrade Yuri uh of course you know it's truly an end of an era in in and uh but what next for left politics that's also the big question but mrma uh you know what according to you was the biggest high of sitaram Yu's career you see he was a student after his graduation from St stens he went to J he emerged as a genuinely popular leader in student politics and he was a lifelong member of the CPI M uh in my view the highlight of his political career if you ask me was his term as the General Secretary of the cpia for for once then the party had a face that was not uh you know charging at windmills which has definitely had its principles was was open to conversation dialogue talks and I think that 10 years or whatever of his period of life was his great charm and by the way he he was genuinely uh revered or liked very by the party carer he carried them I mean when he became the became a Raj saaba MP he was allotted a house on FOH own he didn't live there he lived in his with with his wife and family in their small house in wasant KJ and used his official residence for the help of party workers and for his office I mean he was a man completely oblivious to ostentation and that was his main appeal I mean I could go to sitaram and say and talk to him about anything from a good joke to poetry to politics uh to colleagues to remembrances and he always had a witty and sharp response yes uh thank you so much for sharing your thoughts uh Mr VMA let me bring in uh someone who has also worked with M Mr Yuri within the party within uh cpim the party that he served for so many decades uh ma baby is joining us now Mr baby of course you and Mr Yuri have been friends also member fellow members of the polit Bureau of the cpim uh what according to you defin sarri and what are your memories from to clearly communicate whether it is by writing or by speaking it was well known perhaps you would know that in one of the important English newspapers the Hindustan timeses he used to handle a a weekly column left hand right which I think he continuously handled for almost four or five years if not more so he was a very effective leader from among the new generation of Communist Party leaders prash Kat who was General Secretary before him he also played an important role in training siduri so though we were contemporaries in the St movement uh due to his uh deep knowledge about uh many many issues not only related to the ideological issues related to the communist movement he was a versatile genius he used to enjoy literature film music Sports he himself was a tennis player perhaps it would be news to you that uh you know in the rfim mar there is UN Center and they have an open batmon court they used to have I don't know now it is there so in the 80s and 90s we used to play batminton in early hours whether it is uh very very cold winter more some okay what next for the left ideology and the left movement in India of course the passing away of uh you know Mr Yuri has left a huge vacuum in the space of left politics and of course of the entire Indian politics if you were to say that yeah yeah you see sidar left us when uh the Indian political scene is confronted with many challenges the most important challenge is that certain political forces uh Bend upon uh corroding the Constitutional values such as secularism democracy social justice social progress protection of the downen and marginalized sections of society saram was immensely contributing towards harnessing the the Democratic and Progressive forces in a in a in a broad struggle against these forces of Darkness so his uh absence would be an irreparable loss a huge vacuum uh but we have to take the movement forward there are comrades like pragash karat Bunda Karat and many uh comrades from the new generation we have to put together our energy and uh remembering the great tradition developed by com saram we have to carry on the struggle for the rights of the democratic and Progressive forces and also the livelihood issues of the toiling masses we are planning the 24th Congress of cpim in fact it is from the midst of the preparation that saram left us so our primary focus would be preparing ing the party for holding the 24th party Congress successfully 24th party of Congress will discuss how the challenges before the development of the independent strength of the party how left and Democratic forces can be further strengthened how uh the political struggle can be dtail with the livelihood struggles of the common masses all right Mr bab thank you so much for sharing your thoughts of course uh you you know one of the most affable uh politicians of India and also known as a consensus Builder is no more uh there's a obit that is there up on ndtv.com do read that and remember The Life and Times of siar ramuri that's all from me thanks so much for watching [Music]