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The CPI(M) leadership’s move to issue a clarification that the party does not consider the Narendra Modi-led government “fascist or neo-fascist” has kicked up a row in Kerala, with the principal Opposition Congress alleging that the CPI(M)’s stance was part of its bid to remain “loyal” to the Sangh Parivar.
The CPI(M) recently released its draft political resolution for the 24th Party Congress – slated to be held in Madurai from April 2 to 6, 2025 – which states that “The (Modi government’s) push to impose a reactionary Hindutva agenda and the authoritarian drive to suppress the opposition and democracy displays neo-fascist characteristics…. The nearly eleven years of the Modi government’s rule have resulted in the consolidation of the right wing, communal, authoritarian forces with neo-fascist characteristics.’’
The draft political resolution was adopted at the CPI(M) Central Committee meeting held in Kolkata during January 17-19 this year.
In the latest issue of Chintha weekly, which is considered as the CPI(M)’s ideological mouthpiece in Malayalam, the party politburo has issued a clarificatory note on the draft political resolution. The note says, “This is the first time we are using the term ‘neo-fascist’ in the section on the national situation of the political resolution,” adding that neo-fascism is a product of the crisis from neoliberalism and a global trend. “The present political system under the BJP-RSS is a Hindutva-corporate overbearing regime, which exhibits neo-fascist characteristics. We don’t say that the Modi government is a fascist or neo-fascist. We don’t depict the Indian government as a neo-fascist regime,’’ it says.
Referring to the previous sessions of the CPI(M)’s Party Congress, the note says, “At the 22nd Congress (held in Hyderabad in 2018), we stated that the attacks by over-authoritarian Hindutva were indicative of ’emerging fascist tendencies’. At the 23rd Congress (held in Kannur in 2022), we also said that the Modi government was implementing the fascist agenda of the RSS.’’
The CPI(M) leadership has reportedly sent this note to its state units too.
Referring to the note, CPI(M) Central Committee member A K Balan said on Monday: “Our party has never evaluated the BJP government as a fascist regime. We have never said fascism has arrived. If fascism reaches our country, its political structure will change. We don’t reckon that we have reached such a situation. It is the view of the CPI and the CPI (ML) that fascism has arrived in the country.”
Seizing on the issue, the Congress fired salvos at the CPI(M). Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said the CPI(M)’s note was part of the party’s “tactic” to garner the votes of the BJP supporters in the state Assembly elections slated for April 2026.
“In the 2021 elections, the CPI(M) had retained power in Kerala with the BJP votes. This reference that the Modi regime is not fascist or neo-fascist is part of an agenda to secure BJP votes in the coming election. The CPI(M)’s finding that BJP and RSS are not fascist is shocking and it reveals the undercurrents between the CPI(M) and the Sangh Parivar. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has so far not criticised the BJP or Modi,’’ Chennithala alleged.
Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly V D Satheesan also joined the issue with the CPI(M), alleging that the latter has “always compromised” with the Sangh Parivar. “The new CPI(M) document is part of the decision to surrender before the Sangh Parivar. The Politburo members from Kerala want an understanding with the Sangh Parivar. They are behind this note that the Modi regime is neither fascist nor neo-fascist,” he claimed.
In the 2021 elections, Vijayan-led LDF returned to power for a second consecutive term, winning 99 of 140 seats as against the Congress-led UDF’s 41 seats.
The CPI(M), however, suffered a rout in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, which saw the LDF win just one seat out of 20 as against the UDF’s 18 and the BJP’s one seat, its first-ever.
