One of the striking images after Sitaram Yechury’s passing was a poster of the 1949 Bollywood movie Andaz hanging on a red wall in the living room of the former CPM general secretary’s residence and the Marxist lying at rest in a coffin and surrounded by flowers, wreaths and garlands, while soft lights illuminated the room.
Yechury passed away on September 12. The image and the poster returned with all their visual and metaphorical impact as CPM state secretary Md Salim brought it up in his speech to describe the “andaz (style)” of his “guru” of almost four decades at the memorial meet of Yechury in Calcutta on Thursday. “The general secretary of a communist party has died and his body is lying at rest at his home. And there is this picture of a poster of (the film) Andaz.
“(A film by) Mehboob Productions with Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Dilip Kumar (as actors)...In a Mehboob Productions film its hammer and sickle logo used to be flashed across the screen at the beginning. The hammer and sickle (logo) were on that poster. It’s a cinema poster, (but) it is not just a poster. It is a metaphor.
“Sitaram ka andaz kuch alag tha (Sitaram’s style was something different),” Salim said to underline the distinctive trait of the departed CPM leader.
“People expect a communist leader to be bereft of emotions but Sitaram was different...a politburo member, he would often tweak dialogues from Bollywood films in his election speeches,” he added.
Salim reflected on how Yechury had “internalised diversity” to connect with the people seamlessly and deal with serious political issues. Prakash Karat, who has been appointed the politburo coordinator till the CPM elects its general secretary at the next party congress, spoke about the departed leader’s effort at drawing up the tactical line to defeat forces of Hindutva and fascism led by Narendra Modi in the last Lok Sabha elections.
“His Marxist analysis of the RSS and Hindutva forces was reflected in his personal and political life. The dangers he perceived made him strive ideologically to get democratic and secular forces together on one platform to fight the forces of Hindutva. Till the last days of his life, he had made it the focus of his political struggle,” Karat said.
Karat revealed that before Yechury fell ill and had to be hospitalised, he was preparing the party’s strategy to deliver a further blow to the “rightwing, communal and fascist forces” that he saw as a major threat to the country’s democratic and secular character. Presiding over the meeting, CPM leader Biman Bose urged party workers to devote more time to political events if they wanted to pay tribute to Yechury.
