Sitaram Yechury is a leading communist politician of India from Andhra Pradesh. Born on 12 August 1952 he completed his school education from Hyderabad after which he moved to Delhi and completed his graduation in economics from St. Stephen`s College. In 1975,he completed his Masters in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. In 1974, he joined the Students Federation of India (the student`s wing of the CPM) and the very next year joined the Communist Party of the India (Marxist).

During the Emergency in 1975 he was arrested and as a result he could not complete his doctoral degree from JNU. After the Emergency, he was elected as President of the JNU Students` Union thrice during one year (1977-78).He was elected the All India Joint Secretary of the SFI in 1978 and also became the All India President of SFI in the same year.He was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI(M) in 1985 and to the Politburo in 1992.He is the head of the International Department of CPI(M)and the central party weekly organ ,People`s Democracy .

Leaving aside several lucrative career options he plunged into politics with the aim to serve the country .He said "All that I have studied should be used to change the system, and to do that joining mainstream politics is very important". Intellectually elite and behaviorally urban, this young political careerist without fighting any elections is deeply committed to the misery of the downtrodden in this country. Radical in his views and extremely media savvy, he played a crucial role in convincing the Nepali Maoists to embrace parliamentary democracy instead of the path of insurgency.

Like every other Marxist ,he has expressed his concern over globalisation, commercialisation and communalisation and its impact on culture in many of his writings and speeches.At the Second EMS Memorial Seminar in 2000 on `Culture in the era of Globalisation`he said that the globalisation process seeks to establish a cultural hegemony and homogenisation of public taste.Commercialisation of culture is a resultant product of such globalisation.He also said that the culture of globalisation seeks to divert people from the actual realities of day to day life.He also highlighted communalism as the burning issue in the country and said that such divisive forces weaken the struggle against the existing exploitative order.In one of his writings titled `Socialism in the era of Globalisation he has expressed in bold statements that globalisation is an effort towards the economic recolonisation of the third world that will be ruled by the US.

Men like Sitaram Yechury provide the public with a ray of hope in times of growing disillusionment with the political system.