In a candid reckoning with recent political reality, Kerala’s Communist Party of India (Marxist) opened a high-stakes, three-day state committee meeting in Kozhikode on Sunday, focused squarely on understanding—and fixing—what went wrong in the Assembly elections.

Key facts

  • Meeting began September 13, 2026, in Kozhikode
  • Open debate on a draft report about party problems
  • Includes district secretariat members and mass organization reps
  • State secretary M.V. Govindan and general secretary M.A. Baby leading discussions

A Time for Honest Reflection

The atmosphere is charged with purpose. For the first hour on Sunday evening, and continuing through Monday, select participants from across Kerala’s districts are airing their views in an open debate. They’re dissecting a draft report prepared by the State committee that details the problems plaguing the CPI(M) after its election rout.

State secretary M.V. Govindan didn’t mince words earlier with the media. Organizational weaknesses persist at the grassroots, he admitted. The plan now is direct intervention from the State committee—not leaving it to district bodies alone. “In every three months or at least once in six months,” he said, “the State committee will also examine if the corrective steps are being implemented properly.”

Fighting Perception and Political Pressure

It’s not just internal housekeeping. Party leaders also pointed to external pressures. Govindan described efforts by the Enforcement Directorate to implicate senior leader Pinarayi Vijayan in corruption cases as an “attack on the party.” He vowed resistance against right-wing and communal forces in the state.

But the sharper critique came from within. Opening the conference, party general secretary M.A. Baby argued the CPI(M) should have been more alert. A “false perception” had been deliberately created and left unchallenged, playing a key role in the party’s recent reverses.

“We should have exposed this false narrative and defeated it, but we did not do it. There were some other lapses as well on our part. We need to correct these mistakes, regain the trust of the people and march forward.”
— M.A. Baby, CPI(M) General Secretary

Looking Back to Move Forward

Baby drew a historical parallel to 1960, when the undivided Communist Party improved its vote share but still lost power—a scenario he says repeated in 2026. One damaging narrative, he noted, was the allegation that the CPI(M) had struck a deal with the RSS and BJP. That claim, he acknowledged, influenced many voters.

The path ahead involves what Baby called “criticism of others and of themselves,” using the party’s time-tested method for corrective steps. For three days in Kozhikode, that process is now earnestly underway.