Sitaram Yechury was born on August 12,1952. After school education in Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, he had to move to Delhi due to disruption of academic life as a result of the separate Telengana movement in 1969.
At Delhi, in 1970 he completed Higher Secondary (one Year Course) standing first in the All India merit list. In 1973, he completed B.A.(Hons) in Economics, first class, from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University.
In 1975, he completed M.A., first class, in Economics, from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi. Subsequently, he joined JNU for a Ph.D. degree which he could not complete due to his arrest during Emergency.
He joined Students Federation of India (SFI) in 1974, while at JNU.
He joined the CPI(M) in 1975.
He was underground for sometime, organising resistance to Emergency, before his arrest in 1975. After Emergency, he was elected as President of JNU Students’ Union thrice during one year (1977-78).
In 1978, he was elected as SFI’s All India Joint Secretary. He left SFI as its President in 1986. In 1984, he was invited to the Central Committee of the CPI(M). He was elected to the Central Committee in the CPI(M) XII Congress in 1985, to the Central Secretariat at the XIII Congress in 1988 and to the Polit Bureau at the XIV Congress in 1992.
He is currently a member of the Polit Bureau, Head of the International Department and Editor of the CPI(M) Central Weekly, Peoples’ Democracy.He is a member of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Indian Parliament) and leader of the CPI(M) Group in Parliament.