Sitaram Yechury: Charms and the man

Charm is part of the personality of Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). But it was Charms, the cigarette brand, that he used to reach out to separatist Hurriyat leader Yaseen Malik when they met in Srinagar recently in jail, Malik's temporary abode. Yechury was ostracised by the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party for suggesting that Hurriyat leaders are Indians living in a part of India and there should be no hesitation in talking to them.