1 day Ago By Prabhakar Tamilarasu
Madurai: The 24th congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) elected the politburo member M.A. Baby as the party’s sixth general secretary in Madurai Sunday.
CPI(M) coordinator and senior leader Prakash Karat proposed Baby’s name at the politburo meeting. The post has been vacant since the death of stalwart Sitaram Yechury last year. According to party sources, of the 16 politburo members, 5, including Mohammed Salim from West Bengal and Ashok Dhawale, opposed the appointment.
The appointment comes at a time when the party’s strongholds, Kerala and West Bengal, are due to hold elections in 2026. Party seniors told ThePrint that organising the party’s Kerala unit and bringing it under one fold would be Baby’s first major challenge. “Baby is known as a consensus-builder, unlike the party’s hardliners.
Despite ideological differences with Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, he stayed with him and did not join the opposite faction led by VS Achuthanandan (former Kerala CM),” a party senior and former state committee member from Kerala told ThePrint on condition of anonymity. “He has been advocating for dialogue between the factions, which he will fasten after taking charge as general secretary.” Another senior leader from the party’s Kerala unit shared that the CPI(M) was in a difficult political situation as the BJP was drawing a line across the country, especially in Kerala where its ties to churches are growing.
“It is to be seen if the CPI(M) can effectively use the Sangh’s rivalry with the church in north India to convey a political message in Kerala,” the senior leader said. The leader also shared that the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, in the Parliament was also creating a ripple effect in Kerala. “The CPI(M) under Baby will have the challenge of taking the party closer to the masses and curbing the large factionalism and the typical Kannur-brand of Communism and projecting a more forward-looking, intellectual, and progressive communism,” the senior leader told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
It is also learnt that Baby is the first general secretary from a minority community to head the CPI(M) since its formation in 1964. A central committee member from Kerala told ThePrint that it was not merely symbolic. “But intended to broaden the party’s appeal in a political landscape that is increasingly polarised along religious lines,” the central committee member said.
Loyalists the Pinarayi Vijayan faction also shared that Baby was not only facing opposition from the West Bengal and Maharashtra politburo members but also internal resistance from the Kerala party workers. “More particularly, the resistance is from a section of loyalists of the current Kerala chief minister who prefers a more centralised, top-to-down control of the party functionaries. Baby is less focussed on posturing himself as a revolutionary leader but believes in democratic leadership,” said a functionary of the Kerala party unit, who is one of the loyalists of Pinarayi Vijayan and also close to Baby.
A close aide of Baby from the Kollam Districts said, “He is equally critical of BJP and Congress when it comes to political and economic issues. But, Baby takes a practical view on alliances and is of the opinion that secular and democratic groups should team up to stop the rise of the Right wing,” adding that Baby still stands with Pinarayi despite having ideological differences with his style of governance. “He is a more adaptable Marxist, one who works with differences instead of ignoring them.
” When asked, senior politburo member Subashini Ali said that a Marxist will have the values to bring in a consensus with those resisting the leadership and function in a more democratic manner. “There is no opposition for anything within the party. It is a difference of opinion among us, and whatever the differences are, we have sorted it democratically,” she told ThePrint after the party congress.
Also Read: At CPI(M) congress, Prakash Karat says Left only consistent force that can take on Hindutva forces Mariam Alexander Baby, a sober and veteran face of CPI(M) from Kerala, was born in a coastal village in Kollam district. He dropped out of a BA political science programme at SN College in Kollam and took the route of political activism through mass movements. He eventually became the ideological face of Kerala’s CPI(M).
After beginning his political career as a cadre of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and later the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), close aides of Baby say that he is the rare breed of Indian politicians who have an ideological commitment to cultural and intellectual depth. One of the close aides of Baby recalled his reformation of the school education system during his tenure as the minister for education and culture in Kerala between 2006-2011. “His reforms in the school education system aligned with Marxist principles of equal access to education and imbibing secular values among the students.
It was during his tenure that the marks-based evaluation system was shifted to the grading system in Kerala’s high schools up to Class 10,” they said. He also added, “Baby was the one who introduced a single-window system for admissions to higher secondary schools which reduced the burden on students and parents from applying to multiple schools individually.” Baby served as a Member of the Rajya Sabha for two terms between 1986-1998.
Party worker Lijo Menon, who came from Kannur to Madurai to attend the party conference said that Baby was more a Leninist in his approach. “In his speeches, Baby often refers to literature, philosophy, and global Left traditions, positioning him as an intellectual leader within the CPI(M). He keeps stressing on reconnecting with mass movements, rather than relying on institutional power.
That’s why he is the favourite boy of old-timers like us and also for the emerging young cadres,” Lijo said. Asked if Baby from Kerala was the right choice for the post of general secretary, one of the delegates from West Bengal said that Baby may be the leader to spearhead the transition to widen its base beyond Kerala without weakening its ideological base. “He may be the man to expand our base with his intellectual seriousness, organisational clarity, and a deeply humanistic political compass.
But, let’s wait until the next congress to see his report card,” the delegate said. (Edited by Sanya Mathur) Also Read: After decades of opposition, CPI(M)-led govt eyes private partnerships to revive ailing PSUs in Kerala var ytflag = 0;var myListener = function() {document.removeEventListener('mousemove', myListener, false);lazyloadmyframes();};document.
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