Chennai: Knives are out in the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala with the Communist Party of India (CPI) sniping at its bigger partner, the CPI (Marxist), over shortcomings in governance and the latter’s students’ wing — Students’ Federation of India (SFI) — becoming a ‘liability’.
The unsheathing of knives was preceded by the Left in Kerala suffering a second consecutive general election setback, winning only one of 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state as opposed to the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) with 18 seats. Radhakrishnan, the CPI(M) central committee member who defeated Congress’s Ramya Haridas in Alathur, was LDF’s lone winning candidate in the Lok Sabha elections.
The CPI, the second largest party in the LDF, drew a blank. It was allocated four seats to contest as part of the alliance, namely Thiruvananthapuram, Mavelikkara, Thrissur and Wayanad.
While voters in Kerala have historically supported the Congress in Lok Sabha polls, this time a sizable chunk also voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which saw its vote share in the state rise to 16.68 percent from 13 percent in 2019. Apart from its Thrissur candidate Suresh Gopi securing the party’s first Lok Sabha win in the state, the BJP also saw a significant jump in votes cast for it in a few Left bastions including Alappuzha.
In an executive meeting held Monday, CPI cited failures of the LDF government as one among issues that contributed to its poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls, besides shift in community votes, especially among the party’s core Ezhava voters, towards the BJP.
This came days after CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam said the Left is responsible for regaining people’s trust in it. In a Facebook post following the resignation of a CPI(M) functionary in Kannur who cited allegations of party leaders’ involvement in gold smuggling for his decision, Viswam said the development from Kannur was an insult to the red flag.
That same week, Viswam trained his guns on the SFI, student wing of the CPI(M), calling it a liability for the Left. The SFI, he said, was in need of an organisational overhaul in light of allegations against its activists of indulging in violence on campuses.
“SFI members don’t know the duty of the Left Front. The SFI should be taught the history of the students’ movement,” Viswam said, inviting sharp reactions from CPI(M) leaders.
While CPI(M) state secretary M.V. Govindan said the students’ body will correct its mistakes, former state minister A.K. Balan said SFI is ‘considered a drum that can be beaten at will’ by many. “If there are any shortcomings, the organisation can take corrective steps. It is not an organisation that grew in the shadow of the administration. I am saying this for everyone, whether they are part of the alliance or not,” he said.
Asked about CPI’s criticism of its own ally leading to speculation of a rift within the ruling alliance, Alappuzha-based CPI functionary S. Ganesan said though the CPI is merely pointing to the ‘right things’, the CPI(M) has not been respectful of the criticism. Ganesan ruled out any rift within the LDF and said criticism is a mechanism for course correction ahead of local body polls slated for next year and the 2026 assembly elections.
“We have to understand why we lost in the Lok Sabha elections. They [CPI(M)] said they would analyse and make changes. It’s the need of the hour. SFI’s approach is not good and A.K. Balan’s statement was not respectful of the ally,” he told ThePrint.
However, political analysts and a party insider said the CPI is trying to overcome its own organisational challenges by blaming its ally while also trying to reform the Left coalition, which is necessary for its own survival.
“CPI leaders are facing questions from their own cadres regarding the poll debacle and unlike previous leaders, Binoy Viswam is not able to perform much as a state leader. So, to overcome its own organisational crisis, it’s taking a stand against the CPI(M). Otherwise, they could have conveyed their opinion to the alliance partner privately,” Kerala-based political analyst C.R. Neelakandan told ThePrint.
He added that, like the CPI(M), CPI counts the Ezhava community as its core voter and the party is trying to maintain their trust amid anti-incumbency sentiment against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government. The CPI with only 7.58 percent vote share in the state (2021 assembly polls) needs its ally as the party alone can’t do much, he said.
“Criticism from within the alliance will reestablish the credibility of the Left in the state,” a senior CPI functionary, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint.
He added that the party will have to raise some issues in public because of the ‘peculiar political climate’ prevailing in Kerala. He also reiterated that the idea is to reform LDF ahead of impending polls which will be crucial for the existence of the Left-led alliance.
At the same time, R. Nazar, CPI(M) district secretary in Alappuzha, said the CPI is a different party even though it’s part of the LDF. “If there are any shortcomings, it should have been discussed within the alliance to resolve it. Or if they want to say it in public, it’s fine as well. They have the freedom to do that,” he remarked.
Also Read: Pro-Congress wave, decline in traditional votes – what led to LDF’s poll debacle in Kerala
Weakening CPI(M) & ‘vocal’ CPI
The CPI who formed the first democratically elected government in Kerala under the leadership of E.M.S. Namboodiripad did not have it easy in the state post the CPI-CPI(M) split in 1964. With many prominent Left leaders including Namboodiripad siding with the CPI(M), the splinter group emerged as the largest party in the 1965 assembly elections with the CPI at some distance with only three seats. Since no party was able to stake a claim to form the government, the election was considered abortive.
In the 1967 assembly elections, CPI joined hands with CPI(M) and swept the state, only to break away two years later. The break resulted in the dissolution of the assembly.
Between 1969 and 1977, the CPI had the support of the Congress in the state and CPI leader C. Achutha Menon was chief minister. In the late 70s, the state saw the emergence of the LDF with CPI(M) and CPI, and the Congress-led UDF — formations that have persisted since.
However, the CPI never shied away from expressing its dissent against the more dominant CPI(M).
The CPI leadership openly condemned the alleged encounter of two Maoists in Malappuram district’s Nilambur by the state police in 2016, months after the formation of the first Vijayan government. And in September 2023, several CPI leaders reportedly criticised the state government for its ‘extravagant spending on chief minister’s security’.
But P.J. Vincent, a political analyst and head of the Postgraduate Department of History at Government Arts & Science College, Kozhikode, said the CPI has been more vocal in the alliance after the Lok Sabha polls.
Not long after the declaration of the results of the Lok Sabha elections, voters saw the CPI and the Kerala Congress (M) vying for two of the three Rajya Sabha seats that fell vacant from the state from the LDF. The third seat went to the Congress. With both the CPI and Kerala Congress (M) unwilling to back down, the CPI(M) made the ultimate sacrifice and allocated both seats to its allies to bolster unity in the fold.
“CPI was not at all ready to give up and CPI(M) had to obey. CPI(M) deserved the Rajya Sabha seat considering the number of MLAs they have,” Vincent said, adding that there is a possibility the CPI sees itself as an equal of the CPI(M) in terms of its national footprint.
In the 2021 assembly elections, the LDF won a historic consecutive term in Kerala with 99 of 140 seats. While CPI(M) has 62 MLAs in the Assembly, CPI has 17 followed by Kerala Congress (M) with 5, Janata Dal (Secular) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with 2 each and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Indian National League (INL) and Congress (Secular) with 1 each.
Though the CPI(M) has far more MLAs than CPI in the state, both parties have meagre representation in Parliament. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the CPI(M) won four seats — Dindigul and Madurai in Tamil Nadu and Sikar in Rajasthan, besides Alathur in Kerala — while the CPI won two seats in Tamil Nadu, Tiruppur and Nagapattinam.
Neelakandan said CPI also believes CPI(M) is weakening across the state, given the erosion in its vote base. He added that criticism of its ally can also be seen as an attempt to offset its dwindling vote base by creating an image of an attempt to reform the Left coalition.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the CPI secured a vote share of 6.14 percent in Kerala, compared to 6.08 percent in 2019, while the CPI(M) secured 25.82 percent, down from 25.97 percent in 2019. But the LDF as a whole suffered a blow in Alappuzha and Attingal.
In Attingal, BJP’s vote share rose to 31.64 percent from 18.37 percent in 2019. Similarly, in Alappuzha, considered a Left stronghold, BJP increased its vote share to 28.3 percent from 13.84 per cent in 2019.
The senior CPI functionary quoted earlier said the party has become more vocal about its stand since its silence would lead to many questions from within the party.
“Everyone thought that the CPI would win Mavelikkara and Thrissur seats. CPI(M) has at least one representation in Lok Sabha. But if the CPI doesn’t get parliamentary representation from the state, the secretary will be answerable to cadres,” he said.
CPI leader and former state agriculture minister V.S. Sunilkumar lost to BJP’s Suresh Gopi in Thrissur by a margin of 74,686 votes, while in Mavelikkara, CPI’s C.A. Arun Kumar lost to Congress’s Kodikunnil Suresh by a margin of 10,868 votes.
Anti-incumbency sentiment
Members who attended the CPI’s state executive meeting said there is anti-incumbency sentiment against the LDF government, but they didn’t criticise CM Pinarayi Vijayan or any of the ministers ‘deliberately to avoid personal criticism to ensure logical analysis’.
However, reports have come to light of CPI cadres voicing unease with Vijayan’s style of governance, in district review meetings held after the declaration of results.
According to political analysts, the CPI by criticising its ally is trying to buck the anti-incumbency sentiment against the LDF government, of which it is a part.
“The only reason Sunil Kumar lost in Thrissur was because he was the LDF candidate. The same thing happened in Mavelikkara too. So, they want to show that they are against it to keep their cadres in the party,” said Neelakandan.
The CPI leader quoted earlier added that ‘simplicity’ — a symbol of the Left — was found missing from many of the government’s outreach programmes including the Nava Kerala Sadas held last year. This programme, during which the entire council of ministers travelled in a bus across all 140 assembly constituencies, had come under fire with critics terming it an unnecessary spend at a time when the state is going through a financial crisis.
Criticism from allies is necessary since reform must reflect at the grassroots level on a wartime basis before the local body polls, the CPI leader underlined. “Once the Left loses votes in the local body polls, it will be difficult to regain it.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)