Sabriwithrealitycheck

On Sitaram Yechury’s death anniversary, I find myself thinking not only about the political leader we lost, but also about the intellectual and political tradition he represented. For me, Yechury’s understanding of India, democracy and secularism was particularly important. He was a committed communist, but his politics was never detached from the constitutional and plural character of India. He understood that the Indian reality could not be reduced to one religion, one identity or one political imagination. I have always found his reading of Jawaharlal Nehru interesting. Yechury recognised in Nehru an attempt to build India as a plural, secular and democratic republic, while also placing socialism and economic justice within the project of nation-building. His own politics emerged from a different historical tradition, but he understood the importance of protecting the democratic and secular foundations of the Republic. His position on religion and the state was equally clear. Rel...