He was hospitalized to a hospital in Delhi on August 19 and was receiving treatment there for an acute respiratory tract infection.
Over a number of decades, Yechury, the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI (M), played a significant role in Indian politics.
Numerous political figures have expressed their condolences, including erstwhile opponent Mamata Banerjee and leader of the main opposition Rahul Gandhi.
Yechury started his political career as a student leader with the left-wing Student Federation of India. He was detained in 1975 during the Emergency, a broad restriction of civil freedoms imposed by the Congress administration under Indira Gandhi.
Following his release, he went on to study economics and was elected president of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.
At a time when bringing together divergent ideas and goals was crucial to the stability of India’s federal administrations, he was particularly influential during the height of coalition politics.
He was a key figure in the formation of the 13-party coalition that ruled India for over two years in 1996, sharing the prime ministership between HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral.
In the 2004 parliamentary election, Yechury’s party secured an unprecedented 44 seats.
The Left parties, which included the CPI(M), subsequently provided “outside” support for the Congress-led government, a word for endorsing the administration without assuming ministerial positions.
However, they stopped being supportive in 2008.
