Yechury joins long list of Left leaders who pledged bodies for research

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday joined the long list of Left leaders who pledged their bodies for medical research.

Sitaram's family said the late leader's body would be donated to AIIMS, New Delhi.

In a statement, AIIMS' New Delhi protocol officer Rima Dada confirmed the donation.

"The body of Sitaram Yechury has already been embalmed. It will be taken by the family and party leaders for last respects and will be handed back to AIIMS on September 14 for medical research," Rima Dada, Protocol Officer of AIIMS, told The Tribune.

This correspondent has learnt that senior CPM leader Brinda Karat was at AIIMS to help complete the formalities.

Body pledging and donation is a long-standing Left tradition.

In the past, CPM veteran Jyoti Basu, who was West Bengal CM for 34 years, had pledged his body in April 2003. When he passed away it was donated to Kolkata's SSKM Hospital in 2010.

Basu's successor and former Bengal CM Budhdadeb Bhattacharjee's body was donated to Kolkata's Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College after he died last month.

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who was with the CPM for the best part of his political life, pledged his body in 2000. When he passed away in 2018, Somnath Chatterjee's body was donated by the family for medical research.

Among Left leaders who similarly pledged bodies were former West Bengal minister Manab Mukherjee, veteran trade unionist Shyamal Chakraborty (his wish to donate the body could not be fulfilled as he died of Covid), CPM politburo member Anil Biswas,  and Samar Mukherjee.