KOZHIKODE: The leadership’s apparent failure to effectively counter CPM-BJP deal allegations, coupled with the Muslim League’s campaigning with communal undertones contributed to the Left’s defeat in the 2026 assembly elections, observed the draft report presented at the CPM’s extended state committee meet in Kozhikode on Sunday. An array of measures to win back mass base with total overhaul of its approach and structure too figure in the report.
The report said the Ayyappa Sangamam created an impression of the party indulging in soft Hindutva, which alienated minorities further. Sources said a mention about the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also made it into the report at the final stage. It said the ED attack against Pinarayi Vijayan was intended as an anti-party move to weaken the leadership.
The report highlighted a slew of lapses, including the failure to retain the party’s mass base comprising the working class, farmers and the downtrodden, and said this clearly showed that the party was drifting away from the masses. It suggested different measures to win back people’s trust.
It also pointed to the growing influence of the Sangh Parivar and BJP in state politics as a major challenge for CPM in Keralam. It admitted that the deal allegation did cause party votes to transfer to the right wing.
Sources said the report was highly critical of IUML. It said the League attempted to spread communalism among minority communities. Blaming the League’s campaigning for the erosion of CPM’s minority votes, the report said its door-to-door drives were carried out by circulating Jamaat-a-Islami ideology. IUML, which identifies itself as the outfit of community based politics, propagated communal politics in the 2026 election, it said.
Report underscores the need to expose League
Underscoring the need to expose the League, the report observed that in constituencies where people belonging to the Muslim community contested as Left candidates, IUML unleashed communal campaigns. It said such campaigns led to communal polarisation in the state’s social milieu.
The report also said the Congress’ campaign of an alleged CPM-BJP deal was followed up by the IUML and Jamaat-e-Islami. A few deliberate campaigns added credence to such insinuations, it said, while also highlighting the failure to effectively counter the narrative.
In an apparent reference to the PM SHRI row and the Vellappally issue, the report observed these too contributed to alienating minorities. A party secretariat member’s reading out of the UP Chief Minister’s message at the Ayyappa Sangamam was also criticised in the report.
Curiously, in his afternoon media briefing, CPM state chief M V Govindan had unleashed an attack on IUML alleging that it had become a party of the rich among the minorities, while ignoring the poor among the minorities.
Listen, introspect and correct, says M A Baby
Kozhikode: Urging its leaders and cadres to listen to well-meaning criticism and rectify errors, CPM general secretary M A Baby set the tone for the three-day CPM extended state committee meet that began here on Sunday | P4
