From 60 seats in the Lok Sabha in 2004 to just about 10 a decade later, from playing kingmaker at the Centre to near-political irrelevance now, from enjoying some presence in different regions to being almost decimated in its own bastions — the story of the Left in India is one that tells us how little there is left of it.
After major internal differences — between factions led by general secretary Sitaram Yechury and his predecessor Prakash Karat — over whether there should be any truck with the Congress at all, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M), the dominant Left party, has spent some precious time debating the issue in its Central Committee meetings.
In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the Left parties together won as many as 60 seats, of which the CPI(M) alone won around 44, and they extended crucial support to the Congress-led UPA government. In 2014, however, the CPI(M) managed to get only nine seats, while the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) won one.
Besides Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura — the latter two the CPI(M) held for almost three decades at a stretch — the Left also had some presence in other states such as Rajasthan, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, among others. In fact, in a state such as Rajasthan which is socially distinct from other Left bastions, the CPI(M) managed to win as many as three seats in the 2008 assembly elections in the Shekhawati region, a farm belt.
Just five year later, however, the CPI(M) was down to just one seat in Rajasthan.
In an exclusive interview with ThePrint, general secretary of CPI(M) Sitaram Yechury talks about the grand alliance, the role of CPI(M), the controversial Sabarimala temple and what the future of Left looks like.
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