Left/ communist politics in India
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State governments ruled by communists
1957 – 2026
May 4, 2026: The Indian Express
After two successive terms, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala is set to lose power in the state. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won 102 seats in the 140-strong Assembly. The loss will mark the first time since 1977 that no state in India has a communist government. Three states — Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal — have had communist governments in their history, but all have seen the ideology’s influence wane in recent years. Here is a brief history of how those governments came to power, and their more recent decline.
Kerala
In 1957, the Communist Party of India formed its first government in Kerala, albeit with a slim majority. This was, in fact, the first democratically elected communist government anywhere in the world.
This government saw many policy firsts, such as wide-ranging agrarian and land reforms, which were introduced alongside welfare measures for the marginalised.
Former Politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP S Ramachandran Pillai wrote that the Administrative Reforms Committee, headed by Chief Minister EMS Namboodiripad, proposed, for the first time in India, the exclusion of a well-to-do section from the backward communities from enjoying the benefits of reservation.” The present practice of exclusion of “creamy layer” actually originated from this recommendation, he added.
But the rule would not last. Despite forming a coalition that attempted to cater to a range of political, regional, religious and social interests, some reforms evoked strong resistance. This provided an opportunity for Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to dismiss the EMS government about two years after its formation, in the first instance of the Centre misusing Article 356 on President’s Rule.
However, its legacy extended beyond its short duration. Pillai argued that the Congress-led government, which came into power, “could not give up the agenda of land reforms altogether,” paving the way for laws on the subject.
Not that the “Kerala model” which subsequently emerged was perfect. As The Indian Express wrote on the 60th anniversary of the EMS government, “The unaddressed issues of landlessness among Dalits and tribals, collapse of agriculture, dependency on remittances, wobbly public services, especially in healthcare, and fraying of communal relations now call for reimagining politics and governance.”
The CPI(M) would emerge as the largest party in many later elections, and the outgoing Pinarayi Vijayan-led government was unique in that it saw two consecutive terms in a state where such a repetition is rare. The current loss is being attributed to anti-incumbency and an over-reliance on Vijayan as a figure for political mobilisation.
West Bengal
West Bengal saw the longest unbroken rule by a communist party in Indian history from 1977 to 2011, under the leadership of Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.
Communism in Bengal has a long history, dating back to the days of MN Roy, who founded the Communist Party of India in 1925. Post-Independence, the party partially attributed its 1977 win in Bengal to the Congress’s alleged rigging of elections in 1972, and to the excesses of the Emergency (1975-77) under it.
Before that, a key event in its trajectory was the split between the CPI and the CPI (M), due to differences including their position on the Congress government (the CPI was dismissive of it as an imperialist force) and on China. While it was similarly aligned ideologically as a communist nation, it was also the source of border tensions. These differences eventually led to a split in 1964 and led to the creation of the CPI (M).
The party subsequently consolidated its base of peasants and the working classes through policies such as land reforms and Panchayati Raj reorganisation. It was among the first states to attempt to devolve funds from the state government level to the lower tiers of administration and introduce a provident fund scheme for unorganised sector workers.
After more than three decades in power, the Left lost West Bengal in 2011 to the All India Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee. The policy of industrialisation in the ‘90s and forced land acquisition alienated their traditional base and allowed for the emergence of an alternative. At the same time, anti-incumbency, political violence, and a stasis in governance and economic growth also led to a sense of alienation among other groups of voters.
Tripura
Tripura saw its first communist government come to power in 1977. The party would see more electoral victories, including the nearly two-decade-long rule under Chief Minister Manik Sarkar from 1998 to 2018.
Around 70% of the population in Tripura comprises Bengalis, and the prevalence of communism in West Bengal reached Tripura as well. As The Indian Express earlier reported, “The Communists started working in Tripura much before India’s independence. They primarily worked among the tribal communities, laying the building blocks of what would eventually be a formidable organisation. The Communists targeted the royalty, accusing it of keeping tribals impoverished.”
The BJP’s 2018 win was chalked up to its ability to mobilise its own workers and those of the R S S, and a focus on demographics such as women, youth, and the tribals. This was also a time when the party, following the 2014 Lok Sabha election, was gradually shedding its image as a primarily north Indian, upper-caste party by gaining ground elsewhere. Broadly, this has been credited to a strategy of combining national issues and the ideology of Hinduvta, while targeting local concerns.
“From the issues to pick up, including salaries being paid as per the 4th Pay Commission in the state when the country had moved onto the 7th, to targeting the youth, who are believed to have broken ranks with families to vote for it, and tapping into the R S S’s long-term Northeast agenda to setting in place its own base, the BJP has been at work since January 2016 to crack the citadel built by the Left over 25 years,” The Indian Express reported at the time.
1951-2019
Performance in Lok Sabha elections
May 25, 2019: The Times of India
From: May 25, 2019: The Times of India
With just 5 seats, Left goes further downhill
NEW DELHI: The Left’s electoral journey began as the Communist Party of India (CPI), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Bloc. In the first three general elections, Left was Congress’ main rival and principal opposition in Parliament. But after it turned in its best performance in the 2004 polls, picking up 59 seats, it got caught in an abject slide that saw its tally slide to 10 in 2014. But it was further downhill from there, with the Left notching its lowest ever Lok Sabha tally in 2019.
2019
Left politics without the Left
May 24, 2019: The Times of India
In Kerala, the Left has been left with one lonely seat in Allapuzha. Worse, the Left Front has lost everything in its former strongholds in West Bengal and Tripura. They have won one seat, and are leading in three seats in Tamil Nadu This is the lowest-ever point for the communists, and it may not be easy to reverse the situation, given BJP’s embrace of its cadre and Trinamool’s takeover of its social constituencies in WB, which they dominated for 34 consecutive years until 2011.
How far they’ve come — the undivided Communist Party of India was the largest opposition party in India’s first Lok Sabha election. It drew strength across India from Punjab to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, from Tamil Nadu to Bihar. The Left parties had their best parliamentary performance in 2004, with 64 seats. They supported UPA and held it to a common minimum programme, until they fell out over the US nuclear deal in 2008.
But either way, the free-fall in the left’s fortunes is proof that it no longer speaks to most of the electorate. BJP, Congress and every other party pitches itself to the poor, and seem to do it more persuasively. In Bengal, it had betrayed itself with Singur and Nandigram — siding with industry, attacking its own supporters. Their critics claimed that they tilted too far towards minorities.
Perhaps, this loss of power could be the very thing that energises their movement. They can focus on the struggle, rather than the compromises of running a state.The left, after all, has a big role to play in a dispensation they are at odds with, especially given the BJP’s 180-degree opposite view. It could look beyond internationalism and class, and also draw in anti-caste and environmental movements, battles over gender and sexuality.
Of course this won’t be easy. The first term of the Modi government targeted the parts of civil society that take up such causes, the supportive associations of those who resist it. In its second term, this tendency will intensify, and it will be Left mobilisations that take the hit. Violence between R S S and Left workers may increase.
But around the world, the rise of right-wing populism has been met by an upsurge in left energy, in democratic socialism. Young people who resist the right are more drawn to the clarities of the left than the compromises of centrist politicians. The hitch, of course, is that it may not be CPM, CPI and others like them who rally for this change. We might just end up having a left politics without the Left parties.
