Veteran Left leader and Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury passed away on September 12, 2024, at the age of 72, after undergoing treatment for respiratory ailments at AIIMS in New Delhi. His family has donated his body to AIIMS for research and teaching purposes, continuing the tradition of Left leaders donating their bodies to science.

Yechury's death was met with tributes from politicians across the spectrum, including Trinamool chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is a strident opponent of the CPI(M). Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition party in the Lok Sabha hailed Yechury as a "protector of the Idea of India.", while Nitin Gadkari praised his lasting impact on the nation.

Yechury began his political journey with the CPI(M) student wing in 1975 and went on to serve in the party's highest decision-making body, the Politburo, for 30 years. He was a strong advocate for secularism and social justice.

The tradition of Left leaders donating their bodies to science is a long-standing one. Former West Bengal Chief Minister and CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who died last month, had also donated his body to the Nil Ratan Sircar (NRS) Medical College in Kolkata. Similarly, former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who was associated with the CPI(M) for most of his political journey, pledged his body to science in 2000, and his family fulfilled it after he died in 2018.

Donated bodies are utilized by medical schools and hospitals for research purposes and to educate future healthcare professionals. They help researchers advance science, future doctors understand human anatomy, and physicians develop new surgical procedures.

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Vaishnavi Dalvi/MSM)