Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has been hospitalised due to acute respiratory tract infection. The veteran Communist leader is on respiratory support in the ICU at AIl India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, the party informed on Tuesday, September 10. He was taken to hospital on August 19.
In a media statement, the CPI(M) said, “Comrade Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist), is in the intensive care unit of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, being treated for an acute respiratory tract infection. He is on respiratory support. A multi-disciplinary team of doctors is closely monitoring his condition, which is critical at this time.” He was admitted to AIIMS on August 19 for the treatment of a chest infection similar to pneumonia and was believed to be recovering.
Yechury was elected as the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2015 and has been associated with the left movement since his student days. He has been a member of the CPI(M)'s central committee since 1984 and the politburo since 1992. He joined the Student Federation of India (SFI), linked to the CPI(M) in 1974, and was the face of several protests.
The CPI (M) general secretary was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2005. He has served on various parliamentary committees and was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2011.The communist leader has been playing a key role in rallying the opposition, which has a majority in the upper house. Yechury is also the author of several books like Left Hand Drive, What is this Hindu Rashtra, Socialism in 21st Century, Communalism vs Secularism and Ghrina Ki Rajniti (The politics of hatred).