CPI(M) National General Secretary M A Baby inaugurates the three-day extended Keralam State Committee meeting in Kozhikode on September 13, 2026. | Photo credit: K. Ragesh.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] national general secretary M.A. Baby said that “deliberately creating a false impression” about the democratic left among the masses has played a key role in the setbacks the party has experienced in Keralam in recent times.
Inaugurating the three-day extended meeting of the CPI(M) State Committee on Sunday (September 13, 2026) morning, he also admitted that the Left should have been more vigilant in responding to the creation of this false narrative. “We should have exposed this false narrative and defeated it, but we didn’t. There were other lapses on our part. We need to correct these mistakes, regain people’s trust and move forward,” Mr. Baby said.
The CPI(M) leader noted that regressive elements have been resorting to slandering communist forces for a long time. Recalling the “Liberation Struggle”, a popular agitation during the period 1958-59 supported by the Congress and other parties against the first democratically elected communist government led by EMS Namboodiripad in Keralam, Mr. Baby said that it was actually a movement against the progressive steps taken by the state.
“The creation of such false perceptions has continued since then. Although the communist government was undemocratically overthrown by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1959, the vote share of the undivided Communist Party of India increased by four percentage points in the 1960 elections. This shows how our policies affected the people. However, due to the consolidation of anti-Left and Right-wing forces, we could not come to power then,” he said.
Mr. Baby said that a similar situation happened in Keralam in 2026 as well. “Creating false impressions against the CPI(M) and its leaders began after the party-led front returned to power in the 2021 Assembly elections. One of them is that we have reached an agreement with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party. This allegation has influenced a large number of people. We need to find out where we went wrong in opposing such campaigns,” he said.
The CPI(M) leader said party cadres should engage in what he called criticism of others and themselves. “Most of our eminent leaders, including some who are now at the helm, have gone through the course of correction by the party. We have a time-tested method of corrective steps,” he added.
The three-day conference is being held in the backdrop of the electoral setbacks suffered by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front in Keralam. Earlier, the party’s Central Committee issued an overview report on the election results. Based on this, the State Committee has also prepared a number of guidelines to be followed by the cadres to revive the party’s prosperity.
The conference participants, which also include members of the district secretariat of the party from all over the country and the leaders of its class and mass organizations, will discuss the document presented by M.V. Govindan on Sunday (September 13). Discussions will continue on Monday (September 14, 2026).
According to party sources, the State Committee will prepare the next report following its discussions on September 15.
Earlier, senior party leader Paloli Mohammed Kutty hoisted the party flag. At least nine Politburo members are present at the meeting, including Mr Baby, Mr Govindan and Opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan.
Published – September 13, 2026 1:46 pm EST.