First person: Even as a student, Sitaram Yechury’s talent as a leader who built bridges was evident

I met Sitaram Yechury for the first time in 1973 when we both joined Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. Full-fledged academic programmes in many academic wings, including the School of Social Sciences, to which we both belonged – had started only the previous year. Classes were held in what we called “Old Campus,” the building belonging to the National Academy of Administration. The freshly built student dormitories, named after India’s rivers, were located on the “New Campus” a 10-minute walk to the new permanent campus that was under construction.

Meant to honour the memory of Jawaharlal Nehru, the university’s academic design was heavily influenced, as I discovered later from my research, by the plan suggested by Douglas Ensminger, the American Ford Foundation chief in New Delhi – a fact that would have shocked us had we known about it then.

Established to make a break from the existing pattern of academic study in Indian universities, JNU was meant to advance the modern national and international sprit associated with Nehru. An air of newness pervaded the place; it brimmed with an optimistic, pioneering energy

As I stepped into this space, I ran into Sita, as we called him. Although we were in different programmes – he...

Read more