Sitaram Yechury all praise for Nehru, says he understood plurality

New Delhi, August 8

In a departure from the disdain with which the Communists once treated the first Prime Minister of India — Jawaharlal Nehru, CPM general secretary and former Rajya Sabha member Sitaram Yechury lauded the Congress leader and said he was left with no choice but to embrace Nehru because it was essential to read and understand Nehru for insights into the country’s plural character.

Yechury said EMS Namboodiripad, the first Chief Minister of Kerala and one of the country’s tallest Communist leader, had said that people of their generation had their first lesson in socialism from Nehru and Bose. The CPM leader was talking at a function held here for the release of the book “Freedom Struggle and Beyond”. Authored by Congress leader Praveen Davar, the book published by Aakar Books, is a collection of newspaper articles that Davar has written over a period of time.

Shashi Tharoor, Congress Lok Sabha member, launced the book. Tharoor, too, fell back on Nehru to derive inspiration.