CPI(M) turns inward after Kerala loss, flags 'parliamentary aberrations'

The CPI(M) has decided its wounds are largely self-inflicted. After a bruising defeat in the Kerala Assembly polls, the party has named three internal failings — "parliamentary aberrations", a failure to implement the mass line, and a breakdown of collective functioning — as the targets of a sweeping "rectification campaign", general secretary M.A. Baby said on Sunday (September 6, 2026).

Baby was speaking to reporters at the close of a two-day Polit Bureau meeting in New Delhi, and the tone was strikingly self-critical.

Three shortcomings, one uncomfortable question

"The 24th Party Congress in Madurai had called for a stage-wise rectification campaign within the party. As part of implementing this, we had a discussion," Baby said. "Parliamentary aberrations, lack of adherence to the mass line by party comrades, and issues related to collective functioning have been identified by the party. We have to discuss how far each one of us is free from these."

A Polit Bureau statement later framed the exercise in ideological terms: "The impact of alien class influences like parliamentarism was discussed along with the experiences in implementing the policy of mass line and measures to strengthen collective functioning at all levels of the Party."

Pressed on what "parliamentary aberrations" actually means, Baby offered only that the phrase has "various dimensions". He was far more expansive on the need to reconnect with people. "We should be with people, learn from them and listen to them," he said, adding that senior leaders visiting States must look beyond formal committee meetings to speak with — and genuinely hear — ordinary comrades.

Baby backs Vijayan's 'sabotage' charge

The self-critique carries a sharp edge. Former Keralam Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, at recent public meetings in Payyannur and Taliparamba in Kannur, had blamed betrayal, internal sabotage and party workers' susceptibility to propaganda for the CPI(M)'s poor performance in these strongholds and elsewhere in the State.

Baby stood firmly behind that line. If the party decides on a candidate, every member must rally behind that person, he said — disagreements should have been raised within party forums, not outside them.

Punjab, UP and the Rahul Gandhi question

Looking ahead to elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, Baby said the CPI(M) remains committed to defeating the BJP and its allies, though electoral strategies are yet to be finalised and will be worked out at the State level. "We will explore all possibilities, keeping this goal in mind, to defeat the BJP and its allies," he said.

On whether Rahul Gandhi could be Prime Minister, Baby said the question could be answered only after the next general election — speculation, he argued, would be futile. But he left little doubt about the larger mission:

"Naturally, the Leader of the Opposition has the right [to aspire to the position]. But we do not want to engage in an exercise of hypothesising. Our goal is that the fascist regime of the BJP/RSS should be removed from power. Last time we came close to it; if we had been more careful, this could have happened in the last election. We should not miss our chance now."

For a party still smarting from defeat in Kerala, the coming weeks will test whether this bout of introspection becomes genuine course correction.