Thiruvananthapuram: Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary M.A. Baby has alleged that recent statements by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union Home Minister Amit Shah about defeating the Left Government in Kerala are part of a nationwide plan by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to weaken the Communist movement in the state.
In a statement, Baby said the RSS, during its centenary celebrations, convened a national-level meeting in Mumbai on February 6-7, where new strategic goals under the title “New Horizons” were adopted. He described the comments by the Prime Minister and Home Minister as a continuation of this ideological agenda.
Referring to Modi’s speech in the Rajya Sabha on February 8, the CPM leader said the Prime Minister praised Rajya Sabha member Sadanandan and portrayed Left ideology as “regressive” and “shrinking,”which he claimed was intended to delegitimise the Left and diminish its role in public life.
Baby also cited Shah’s speech at a public meeting in Chhattisgarh on the same day, where the Home Minister accused Communist parties of failing to deliver development and claimed that the Left had already been eliminated in Tripura and West Bengal, adding that Kerala was the last remaining Left stronghold and would also fall in the upcoming elections.
“The defeat of the Communists in Kerala has become a key national agenda of the RSS,” Baby alleged. Drawing parallels with West Bengal, he accused the RSS-led BJP of attempting to completely dismantle the Left movement in Kerala through political and ideological means.
The CPM General Secretary further alleged that the Congress in Kerala has been indirectly aiding this agenda. He said this was not merely for short-term political gains, but due to what he described as a shared social base and convergence with right-wing economic and political outlooks.
According to Baby, both the BJP and the Congress differ only on who first introduced pro-corporate, neoliberal economic policies, while sharing an understanding of accommodating communalism and caste dominance.
He claimed that at the grassroots level in Kerala, the RSS and the Congress often maintain close relations, and recalled that a former KPCC president had publicly stated that the Congress had protected RSS camps. “For both the RSS and the Congress, the CPI(M) remains the principal enemy,” Baby said.
Concluding his statement, Baby said that anyone committed to preserving Left politics and democratic values in Kerala would not align with the RSS agenda of forcing a regime change in the State.
Quoting writer Arundhati Roy, he warned that supporting such an agenda would be like “agreeing when a burning torch asks dry hay for just one chance.”
