Kerala: Seeing red after poll rout, CPI(M) starts rectification drive

Chandran, 73, from Thrissur in Kerala has been a loyal voter of the CPI(M) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) it leads since casting his first vote in 1967. Both he and his wife have been party sympathizers for long although Chandran never took up membership.

In this Lok Sabha election, Chandran and his wife Sarojini chose not to vote, opting instead for a pilgrimage to the Kottiyoor temple in Kannur on April 26 when Kerala saw balloting.

“It was hard not to vote for the party I believe in but this time I decided they should know they are drifting away from people like me. This was our way to express it. However, I still remain a Communist sympathizer and hope the party will introspect and rectify its errors,” said Chandran.

Tired of Marxists

Aishumma, a 60-year-old homemaker from Veliyankode in Malappuram district, had reasons not to vote for Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate KS Hamsa this time.

She believed it was important to vote for the Congress to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi. Despite her three sons being active workers of the CITU, the CPI(M)’s trade union wing, Aishumma voted for Abdussamad Samadani of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a Congress ally, instead.

Lohithakshan, a former CPI(M) member from Alappuzha district, had conflicts with local party workers and had been inactive for a while. This time, he and some friends decided to make a change and connected with the BDJS (an ally of BJP) leadership at the grassroots level in Alappuzha. This shift was evident in the election results. The sitting CPI(M) MP lost to AICC general secretary KC Venugopal while Sobha Surendran of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received an unexpectedly high number of votes.

Rectification drive

When the CPI(M) embarks on a rectification process after its election debacle, as decided by the party’s central committee, they will need to address at least these three case studies as examples. There are numerous other issues the party must tackle if they hope to recover before the coming by-elections and future elections.

The party committees — from the state level to the branch — after the elections have consistently analysed not only that it is losing ground even in Kerala, the only state where they have maintained power, but also that the BJP is penetrating through its vote bank as well as the cadre base.

In the district-level meetings, party state committee representatives reported that it was crucial not to ignore the fact that the BJP was encroaching on their territory and that many of their sympathizers were drifting towards the Hindu right-wing.

Why is Left losing?

They noted that their local body members were losing popularity while BJP ward members were gaining it, and emphasized that this issue needed to be seriously addressed at the micro level.

“The LDF’s vote share in the parliamentary elections has steadily declined from 41.95 per cent in 2009 to 33.35 per cent in 2024, but this trend is not evident in the Assembly elections,” feels Dr. TM Thomas Issac, a CPI(M) central committee member who lost the election in the Pathanamthitta constituency.

“This decline can be attributed to several factors, including the creation of the INDIA bloc, which led many to believe that the Congress is a more effective force against the BJP, as well as the decreasing influence of Left in Bengal and Tripura,” he added. “However, this trend does not seem to affect the Assembly elections similarly.”

Cadres unhappy

“The election results show that the LDF failed to convince voters, including minorities, that increasing its representation in Parliament was crucial for raising the voice of Kerala and its people” added Issac.

The CPI(M) workers at the grassroots level are not fully happy with the leadership’s assessment of their defeat as many believe that the state government also failed to meet the people’s expectations. Some have gone so far as to severely criticize Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his management of the police department and for evading allegations related to his family, especially concerning his daughter Veena and her husband, PWD Minister PA Mohammed Riyas.

Sensing this mood among the cadre, the party state secretary asserted that the rectification drive would address all levels of the organizational structure, from the branch to the central committee. He emphasized that “no one is immune from this corrective process. If there is something to be corrected, the party will implement it, no matter who is on the receiving end”.

Reasons for setback

According to Dr. Isaac, the decrease in vote share cannot be solely attributed to floating votes going to the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). The real issue lies in the erosion of support from CPI(M)’s core base, which includes workers, peasants, agricultural labourers and other unorganized workers. This loss of trust needs to be properly addressed.

The party plans to begin direct outreach to the people starting this week, with a series of corner meetings and family gatherings. Alongside these efforts, they will be working on a broad strategy for a comprehensive people’s campaign aimed at strengthening public support.

However, the real challenge is that the party’s core leadership has not admitted to the governance shortfalls in the state, and criticism of the chief minister is confined to committee discussions. Despite the party’s focus on where it went wrong and plans for rectification, the chief minister appears to be slightly out of sync with this message.

BJP celebrates

This is where the party and the government need to step in if they are to reemerge as a unit to face the coming byelections in two Assembly segments and the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.

On the other hand, the BJP is looking to make the most of the momentum from the Lok Sabha elections. They are excited about Suresh Gopi’s victory in Thrissur and the significant performances of V Muraleedharan in Attingal, Sobha Surendran in Alappuzha, Anil Antony in Pathanamthitta, V Krishnakumar in Palakkad and TN Sarasu in Alathur, which have allowed them to make notable inroads into the LDF and UDF vote bases.

The BJP’s joy is further boosted by their breakthrough into the predominantly Hindu vote banks of the CPI(M) in the constituencies of Alappuzha, Thrissur, Attingal and Palakkad, a target they have been working towards for the last 30 years.

Wooing disgruntled Reds

“We plan to take advantage of this situation with a detailed strategy to attract CPI(M) sympathizers to our side. Rather than targeting major leaders, we will work on winning over local comrades. We are confident that a major section of the CPI(M) is disillusioned with the party’s appeasement of the Muslim community, which we see as a genuine opportunity,” said a BJP leader.

The BJP’s strategy poses a significant challenge for the CPI(M) as they strive to keep their cadre base intact for the upcoming election phase. The rectification process must go beyond previous efforts. The party leadership is confident that by realigning government priorities, addressing the needs of the poorest and getting welfare schemes back on course, they can reverse the trend with a well-knit party machinery.