The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] begins its five day session of 24th Congress on April 2 at Madurai in Tamil Nadu. The 24th congress, held after every three years is expected to frame the road map of the party for the next three years till the 25th congress which is scheduled for 2028. The intervening years since the last party congress witnessed the holding of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 and many assembly polls to the state assemblies. In the next three years, the most important political event for the party is the holding of assembly elections in Kerala in April/May 2026 since the party is in power in the state heading the Left Democratic front government. Further, the year 2025 is the centenary year of RSS and in this year as also in the next three years, the Hindutva forces led by RSS strive to advance many steps forward to achieve their objective of establishing Hindu Rashtra.
So, on the eve of the 24th party congress how far the biggest left party in the country so far, is prepared to meet the twin challenges- the electoral fight and the battle against Hindutva? In 2025, at the end of the year, the assembly elections will be held in Bihar which will be crucial in determining the course of the opposition in the next round of assembly elections to Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. In Bihar, the CPI(M) is the part of the Mahagathbandhan, the alliance of the INDIA bloc parties led by the RJD. The CPI(M) has two seats in the present assembly. The Party has to see that at least these two seats are retained in the coming assembly polls.
The CPI(M) which once ruled three states Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura at one time, is ruling in just one state Kerala while there is no possibility of any turnaround of the CPI(M) in Bengal where the party has no representation in the present assembly. In Kerala, the LDF led by the CPI(M) is in power for the consecutive second term though in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the CPI(M) got only one Lok Sabha seat out of the total of 20. The LDF government has done well and the organisations of both the CPI(M) and the CPI are strong.
But the trends evident in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the by elections in the following months in Kerala showed the increasing per centage of the Congress and UDF votes as against the LDF. The latest election of Priyanka Gandhi from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency vacated by Rahul Gandhi has given further boost to the Congress party in Kerala. The state Congress is determined to get back Kerala this time and the state leaders are getting all help from the central high command. Both Rahul and Priyanka have taken up the comeback of the Congress in 2026 poll as their own political task. For the CPI(M) and the LDF, the task is tough. But the battle is on an even footing. The LDF has chance and for that the present chief minister P Vijayan has to lead from the front. If the CPI(M) loses Kerala in 2026 polls, it will be a big setback for the party at the national level and its stature in the INDIA bloc will diminish further. The entire leadership has to go all out to retain Kerala this time overcoming all the hurdles.
What about the other states in the 2026 polls? In Bengal, the state leadership has totally failed in working on a policy that can fight both the ruling Trinamool Congress government and the BJP. The state party has lost bases among workers, peasants, unorganised sections and women. The state CPI(M) is completely delinked from the Muslims who constitute about 27 per cent of the state’s electorate. The present organisational machinery of the state CPI(M) is no match to meet the TMC machinery as also BJP preparation which is still far behind the TMC.. In the next year, if any erosion of TMC base takes place, the BJP will get benefit of that, not the CPI(M). As regards 2026 polls, the Bengal CPI(M) has little hope to improve its position in the new assembly with or without the Congress.
Seasoned political analysts as also the poll agencies projections suggest further increase in TMC seats in the new assembly and erosion of the BJP seats below 40 from the present reduced strength of 65 after 12 defections in the last four years after the 2021 assembly polls.. The central leadership of the CPI(M) should make its own assessment about the pathetic organisational state in Bengal CPI(M) and take steps so that the party and the Left Front put candidates in constituencies where it has a minimum support base. The resources should not be scattered by putting up too many candidates most of whose security deposits may get forfeited. The CPI(M) has to travel a long road in Bengal to raise its number from Zero to a few seats.
As regards Tamil Nadu, the DMK led alliance of the INDIA bloc parties is doing politically well under the leadership of M K Stalin. Both the CPI and the CPI(M) can hope to maintain their present strength in the assembly as a part of the alliance. In Assam, the INDIA bloc’s future depends on the Congress which is not in the best of organisational state at present. The situation is not very promising as the Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is a competent political leader with good connections with most of the regional groups. CPI(M) with its small support base has little bargaining power to deal with the Congress by persuading the party to take decisive action to take on the BJP in the state.. That way, the CPI(M)’s hopes in the coming assembly elections in 2026 focus mainly on Kerala and to some extent in Tamil Nadu.
As regards the main ideological and political battle of the country against Hindutva in 2025 and the next three years, the task has become extremely difficult as the RSS and BJP have successfully influenced the Hindu society with its ideology in most of the states, especially in the northern and the western states. The RSS is now fully active for the BJP in election work in the state assembly elections. The results of the latest assembly elections including Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi show the positive results in favour of the BJP due to this active coordination of RSS.
There is no strong parallel narrative to combat the aggressive Hindutva from the opposition side as every non left party takes into account that Hindus constitute 80 per cent of the Indian population. The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is the only leader in the main opposition party who is consistently campaigning against RSS and its ideology but its impact is limited. The Congress party’s state organisations have not taken this to the base level in the districts whereas the RSS workers work day and night in the remotest areas of the states to preach their ideology.
The failure of the Left in combating Hindutva is not due to their weak organization.. It has to do with the general global mood in favour of far right which is evident in the European countries as also in the USA under Trump 2.0 regime. CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat rightly said in a pre-Congress interview to Indian Express that the CPI(M) and the Left forces are too small to take on the hugely organised RSS.” RSS works in cultural and social spheres and other many areas. Where are we?” This is a very relevant question. The Left which set the agenda for the rejuvenation of Indian culture and its identity in 1940s and 1950s through the P.C Joshi inspired Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA), is today barely seen to lead the new cultural ideas. In Bengal, where the culture was an intrinsic part of Left politics, Mamata has hijacked the cultural agenda of the Left just as she hijacked the earlier pro people agenda of the Left Front Government. It is time to use culture and social activities by the Left parties on a national basis to fight the agenda of the RSS. The new Left agenda can rope in liberals, civil society activists and anyone who is opposed to Hindutva.. A widespread national campaign by the Left has to be initiated to differentiate between a religious Hindu and a Hindutva Hindu influenced by RSS ideology. This is an uneven fight at the moment but it has to be done with full vigour.
Without going into that futile debate whether the Modi government is full fascist or it is showing neo-fascist characteristics, the hard reality is that the RSS is expanding and its declared programme is to make India a Hindu Rashtra. So there has to be a sort of broad front against this agenda. This has to include apart from the Left, the Congress and other political parties who oppose this fascist agenda. The issue of fight against neo liberalism is separate. That can go simultaneously as a Left and Democratic agenda. But the primary agenda is to mobilise broad sections of parties and the civil society and mass organisation to fight Hindutva agenda which means a sort of broad front against fascism or neo fascism whatever one may call it.
The work on this anti-fascist agenda needs the participation of a stronger Left. As a part of that, there should be concrete programme for coordination of the three main Left parties CPI(M), CPI and the CPI(ML)-Liberation. This coordination has to be not only at the national level but also at the state level depending on the strengths in each state. The Madurai congress has to take seriously the issue of Left consolidation to be followed by the rejuvenation of INDIA bloc. The active participation of the Congress is needed to fight Hindutva and the fascist agenda nationally.
The CPI(M) leaders should frame strategy assessing their own reduced strength and help in mobilising maximum sections who are ready to fight the RSS agenda, without being influenced by the regional politics. In states, the INDIA bloc constituents can fight against each other for local political compulsions, but at national level, a broad unity is must without any shred of sectarianism. Next three years before the 25th CPI(M) congress are crucial for the survival of the Indian state. The CPI(M) delegates have to take into account this aspect and work on their policy for the next 36 months. (IPA Service)
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