The cultural map when I was growing up, in the 1970s and 80s had a distinct colour. It was the colour of socialist idealism , (though that is a contradiction to the very essence of dialectical matirialism), but every poet, every playwright, even most film director’s carried the torch of socialism in their creative content with an idealistic aspiration for a better and egalitarian tomorrow.
In colleges the unions were divided between two broad outlooks and behaviour(s): one which advocated the intellectual quest for progressive politics and the other which advocated muscular pursuit for power by any means. The former was often represented by SFI/AISF while the latter was predominantly represented by NSUI/ABVP.
It was natural for someone like me getting drawn towards SFI’s ideological goals and culturally veered toward socialist ideals. In that horizon a common face which represented both the ideology and the culture of progressiveness, in its most gentle liberal way was Comrade Sitaram Yachury. He was young, educated and erudite. He also had an expansive personality, which encompassed a wide section of eager voices and interests.
Amongst the panorama of shrill trade unionists, militant ideologists and rigid intellectuals, comrade Sitaram seemed like an ocean of objectivity and acceptabiliry. He so easily communicated the essence of historical materialism while also appreciating the lyricism of Ustad Amjad Ali khan sahab’s sarod interpreting the ancient ragas.
He could find relevance in a working class rally as well as a progressive Urdu mushiara.
He was the fulcrum which balanced many shades of ideologies and didn’t find harsh detractors amongst opposing ideologies. I was always confused as to whether to address him as a political leader or a liberal intellectual, so easily he slipped between the two roles.
In my formative years of cultural renaissance, working with the Jan Natya Manch, volunteering for Sahmat, teaching theatre in education in progressive schools, handling projects on litetacy and minimum science for other organisations and groups, I found I was constantly trying to emulate the idea of Comrade Sitaram…wear a smile on your face, fill ideological idealism in your heart and carry the steel of purpose in your mind. All while taking everyone along the common democratic path. Easier said than done. Only comrade Sitaram knew that, and held that quality till the very end, while most of us drifted and floated around in myriad contradictions.
I doubt if we will ever get someone so gentle and so graceful, yet so precise and incisive in political discourse, to ever inhabit the most treacherous and complex political landscape, that is India.
A decade too soon, you left us, just as Indian politics needed all the sanity and empathy you embodied: sane and empathetic leaders to collectively help, heal its body and rejuvenate its soul.
Farewell comrade.
(The author, Joy Sengupta, is a well-acclaimed actor in theatre and cinema. Apart from awards won for performances in Hazar Chaurasi ki Ma directed by Govind Nihalani and for the portrayal of Gandhi in the ipic play, Samy and the Bengali film, Bilu Rakhosh, Sengupta has worked with legendary directors Habib Tanveer and Safdar Hashmi. He is a teacher of Theatre in Education and used theatre for projects on literacy and social work)
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Artists & Intellectuals must appeal to the Good: Joy Sengupta, theatre-film actor