Opposition leaders pay tributes to Yechury; Rahul Gandhi says he was bridge between Congress and other parties in INDIA bloc

New Delhi [India], September 28 : Leaders of INDIA bloc on Saturday paid tributes to CPI-M leader Siraram Yechury at a prayer meeting here with former Congress president stating that the late leader "was a bridge" between Congress and other parties in the opposition alliance.
Describing Yechury as "a friend", Rahul Gandhi said he observed the CPI-M leader carefully and found him to flexible and a person who listened.
"For me Sitaram Yechury was a friend, who operated in the political system. When people look at politics from outside, it's not easy to see the dynamics that take place inside the political system. It's an unforgiving place, harsh place, uncomfortable place and it brings out mostly the worst in people. It's rare that you see that politics brings out the best in a person. And I saw Mr Yechury from the first day I started in my political journey, and I observed him quite carefully and what I found, was a person, who was flexible, who listened, who even thoughm" he said.
Rahul Gandhi, who is Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said even as their parties have different ideologies, Yechury had the ability "to understand where we were coming from and he also allowed us to understand, where he was coming from".
"He was a bridge in a sense between certainly, the Congress party and other parties in the INDIA gathbandhan...Yechury was such a figure who in the INDIA gathbandhan certainly and the last UPA gathbandhan, held the architecture together. He held the architecture together, because he was flexible, because he listened and he didn't have the common traits that a lot of politicians have- anger, aggression, arrogance, these things were missing and this is rare in our work, so, he was a friend," Gandhi said.
"He was also very close to my mother and I would say, they were even better friends than I was with him. Few days ago, he came to meet my mother and they were sitting there and I saw, Mr. Yechury was coughing and I realised that both of them have the same attitude when it comes to hospitals, which is that neither of them wanted to go to a hospital under any circumstances...," he added.
The Congress leader said Yechury always gave priority to national interest.
"The only thing, I could say is that he was a person, you could trust. He was a person that you were sure, hundred per cent sure that he wasn't compromised in today's situation, where there is pressure easy to get compromised, he was not compromised and whatever he did, he always did for the interest of our country," Gandhi said.
"Every single time, his starting point and may be my brothers in the left might not like it, but, his starting point was India and that was the point from which he began and of course, after that was his political ideology, his political conviction," he added.
The Congress leader recalled Yechury as saying that BJP and the RSS were "damaging institutions" and it was not in country's interest.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also paid glowing tributes to Yechury and said the late leader played a very important role in forming the India Alliance.
The condolence meeting in memory of Yechury, a former Rajya Sabha member, was held at Talkatora Stadium.
DMK MP Kanimozhi said that Sitaram Yechury lived his life as a fearless person.
"He lived his life, as a fearless person. He started his career as an activist, as a person who rebelled against anything he thought was wrong from his student days until very last of his days, and he always stood by those principles," she said.
CPI leader D Raja said Yechury's demise was not only a loss for CPI-M but the loss for the whole country.
"Comrade Sitaram was one of the outstanding communist leaders in the contemporary history of our country. His demise is not just lost for CPI-M, but for the entire communist moment and Communist family, and it is a loss for the country as a whole," D Raja said.
Congress leader Anand Sharma said that Yechury never forgot his priorities and commitment.
"He knew how to unite others and take everyone along. He even tried to build a consensus by sitting with his opponents. He never forgot his priorities. We did a lot of work at the international level as well. Whether it was the movement against apartheid in South Africa or the struggle for Namibia, Cuba or Palestine. We remained together for decades...I felt sad, this was not the time for Sitaramji to leave. This was the time when we all needed him," Sharma said.
Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha said that the emptiness has come not only for the Communist Democratic Movement but also in the nation's thinking.
"When people like Sitaramji leave, the emptiness that is created cannot be filled. The emptiness has come not only for the Communist Democratic Movement but also in the nation's thinking. It is very difficult to compensate for that," Jha said.
NCP-SCP MP Supriya Sule said that younger politicians learnt from Yechury.
"He was a very cultured leader and we all have learnt a lot from him and we considered him our Guru," she said.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Gopal Rai said that he played a big role in uniting the leaders of the INDIA bloc.
Leaders from CPI-M also paid their glowing tributes to Yechury.
Yechury, who was CPI-M general secretary, passed away at AIIMS Delhi earlier this month after suffering from a respiratory tract infection.