DIMAPUR — The Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) has expressed “shock and sadness” over the demise of veteran politician Sitaram Yechury, the general secretary of CPI (M) and former Rajya Sabha MP, who passed away on September 12 in New Delhi.
In a condolence message, the NPMHR said late Yechury was a friend of the Naga people from his days as a student leader at JNU, one who would not only listen to the complaints of humiliating stories of the Naga people at a time when nobody believed or even wanted to hear but also extended solidarity and shared his concerns against oppressive forces.
“And as time went by, we grew apart, but NPMHR carried with us those memories and his name wherever we go,” it said.
The NPMHR recalled that it was only just recently when NPMHR decided to call on the CPI (M) and reconnect with him as he was someone on whom the Naga people could always depend on in times of trouble and needs, especially in the backdrop of the Indo-Naga peace talks which have run into troubled-waters.
The NPMHR team visited his official residence, which houses the CPI (M) office sometime in the early part of July this year, and although Yechury was away from Delhi on that very particular day, NPMHR members had a long sitting with some of his colleagues and politburo members, it stated.
“Nevertheless, we had worked out certain understanding which he himself came to work and improve upon, for which, we were to follow up,” the NPMHR said.
Extending condolences over the sudden demise of the veteran politician, the NPMHR went on to add that Nagas in general would always remember him as a “steadfast all-weather friend.”
