Tale of obituaries, mortuary as RS bids adieu to Sitaram Yechury

The last day of CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury's Rajya Sabha journey was filled with jokes, tears and praises from members across the party lines for Yechury. While few members criticized his party's decision against a third Rajya Sabha term for him, others bid an emotional farewell.

The central committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), its highest decision-making body, decided against nominating party general secretary Sitaram Yechury for a third consecutive Rajya Sabha term on July 26. Hence, the Upper House on Thursday bid farewell to the Left party stalwart.

Leaders across the party lines showered praises towards Yechury and remembered his journey all along.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and Yechury were together during Common Minimum Programme of UPA-1 and 2. Remembering those days, Jairam Ramesh said, "I used to often refer to him not as Sitaram Yechury, but as Sitaram 'Obituary', because he was the one who wrote the 'obituary' for both the UPA governments in a way but, certainly, for UPA-I when the Left Front withdrew support on the 123 Agreement," said Ramesh. The entire house was in splits at this point.

Replying to Jairam, Yechury said that Ramesh had only said half part of the story and the second part of the story was that he used to call Jairam 'mortuary'.

"If his policies are followed, then, you will be in the mortuary," said Yechury. At this point, Arun Jaitley was quick to add, "Jairam also has not changed. He continues to write obituaries."

In a lighter vein, Jaitley also said that since Yechury has never had an opportunity to be in the government, he has the liberty of making several suggestions which are "idealistic but un-implementable". Jaitley said that in almost every debate in which Yechury participated, he raised the level of the debate to such an extent that others found it difficult to match that.

The Leader of Opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said, "Yechury is one of those few leaders who do not belong to just a party but to the whole nation". He said his departure from the Rajya Sabha is a loss of the entire House and not just the Opposition.

Emotional moment

Amidst all the jokes and praises, there was an emotional moment in Rajya Sabha as well. Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav in a chocked voice gave farewell speech to Yechury. Yadav sits right next to Yechury in the front row in Rajya Sabha. "Yechury ji, I will always remember you", he said. Yechury in his speech did not forget to mention Yadav and added, "Wherever I sit, I will always look towards my right for you (Yadav). I am sure you will be there."

Being arch rivals in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and CPI(M), TMC were not behind to say a good farewell speech to Yechury. On this occasion, Derek O'Brien siad, "I have to say this. Even the best and die-hard supporters of Manchester United, when they know that there is a good striker for Tottenham Hotspur, they still acknowledge that there is a very good striker for Tottenham Hotspur," Brien said praising Yechury.

Yechury signed off with a couplet from Urdu poet Makhdoom Mohiuddin, saying the need is to take every together for building a better India.

Two other members retire

The Rajya Sabha also bid an adieu to two other members whose term came to an end with the close of the Monsoon session. These members were D Bandyopadhyay of the Trinamool Congress and Dilip Pandya of the BJP.

While nine members are retiring after this session, six of them will be back as they have been re-elected. Deputy Chairman Kurien, while thanking the retiring members for their invaluable contribution, said they should forgive and forget if he had been harsh with them.

OneIndia News