With a call for resistance and renewal, the CPI(M)'s 24th Party Congress concluded on Sunday in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. As the congress, which met over six days with 800 delegates and 80 observers, came to a close, what made headlines was the generational shift in the party, including the appointment of a new General Secretary. MA Baby, a Politburo member from Kerala, is the new General Secretary. With six senior leaders—including former General Secretary Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, Manik Sarkar, and Subhashini Ali—stepping down upon reaching the party’s prescribed age limit, eight new faces, including Keralite leader Viju Krishnan, joined the 18-member Politburo. Of the 85-member Central Committee, 30 are newcomers. As the CPI(M)'s only Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, along with P.K. Sreemathy, national president of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, and Yusuf Tarigami from Jammu & Kashmir, were granted exemptions from the age limit rule.
The Party Congress concluded with a firm resolve to strengthen the Left alternative, having brought into open discussion the serious political challenges facing the nation and the internal crisis confronting the CPI(M). Leaders reiterated the Left’s responsibility to intensify the struggle against the Hindutva communalism led by the BJP-RSS and against the neoliberal economic policies driven by the Sangh Parivar-corporate nexus. They also expressed a strong determination to stand united with secular parties in resisting the Hindutva forces that, beyond electoral politics, continue to influence ideological, cultural, and social spheres—constantly attacking and undermining democratic institutions and the Constitution. The question both within and outside the party is whether the CPI(M) can turn into an opportunity the limitation of its national leadership being confined to its lone stronghold, Kerala.
The party’s political resolution and the discussions held from the grassroots to the Party congress reveal the difficult situation that both the country and the CPI(M) are going through. The crucial question now is how far the promises made by both the old leadership and the new torchbearers at the congress will be put into action. The party, tied to its ideological fixation of blindly opposing the Congress, is still stuck with its 'old rules' while trying to define and fight fascism. From rejecting the Prime Minister’s post to withdrawing support from the UPA government over the nuclear deal, its historically flawed decisions ended up paving the way for neo-fascism and weakening the party - but the leadership has yet to admit this. Even now, there is no clear position on working with Congress to stop the rise of the Sangh Parivar. While recognizing how Hindutva politics is trying to find new entry points into Kerala, the CPI(M) often ends up opposing the Congress so strongly as to appear to be competing with the Sangh Parivar in that. It is worthwhile to note that out of the party’s current four MPs, three were elected with the support of the Congress-INDIA alliance. Outside Kerala, the party cannot survive without such support. In this context, the signs that can be gleaned from the congress of loosening its rigidity is a point worth noting.
Even as the party continues to speak loudly in open forums against corporate cronyism and neo-liberal economic policies, it has still not been able to free itself from these very tendencies in the states where it holds power - and the question why remains unanswered. It is at the very same time when representatives at the congress were voicing concerns about corruption affecting some sections of the party, that some new revelations came out regarding a corruption case involving the Kerala government. While the party proudly rode into Madurai showcasing Kerala’s model of development and welfare governance, it could not resolve the strike by ASHA workers demanding better wages. When the Congress party was in power at the Centre, the Left governments used to declare both governance and protest as their policy. But today, in the era of an aggressive Sangh Parivar marked by an absence of the basic decency and dignity of politics, the party has shrunk its resistance against the Centre to the tea cup of a breakfast diplomacy in New Delhi.
In this context, the responsibility before the new leadership is to revive a weakened party and to prepare it to stand firm against the destructive politics of Hindutva communalism in the country. From holding 44 Lok Sabha seats and being at the peak of its strength in 2004, the party fell to 16 in 2009, to nine in 2014, to three in 2019, and to four in 2024. The Madurai congress says that the party recognizes both the changing political climate and the internal weaknesses that have drained its strength. But the real question - and the hope shared by all who look to the Left hoping for much more from it - is how ready the party truly is for a change.