Communist Party of India - Wikipedia

Communist Party of
India
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The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a

communist political party in India. It is the
oldest communist party in India. The CPI
is one of the eight national parties of
India.[3][4] There are different views on
exactly when it was founded. The date
maintained as the foundation day by the
CPI is 26 December 1925.[5] The
Communist Party of India (Marxist), also a
national party, separated from the CPI in
1964 following an ideological rift between
China and the Soviet Union, continues to
claim having been founded in 1920. The
party remains committed to Marxism–
Leninism.[6]
Communist Party of India
Abbreviation CPI
Secretary-General D. Raja[1]
Lok Sabha leader K. Subbarayan
Rajya Sabha leader Binoy Viswam
Founder M.N. Roy
Abani Mukherji
Ahmed Hasan
Hasrat Mohani
Rafiq Ahmed
Sultan Ahmed Khan
Tarin
Founded 26 December 1925 at
Cawnpore, British Raj
(presently Kanpur,
India)
Headquarters Ajoy Bhavan, Indrajit
Gupta Marg, New Delhi,
India-110002
Newspaper New Age (English)
Mukti Sangharsh (Hindi)
Janayugom
(Malayalam)
Kalantar (Bengali)
Janasakthi (Tamil)
Kholao Thakhai
(Manipuri)
Prajapaksham (Telugu)
Nuadunia (Odia)
Student wing All India Students
Federation
Youth wing All India Youth
Federation
Women's wing National Federation of
Indian Women
Labour wing All India Trade Union
Congress and Bharatiya
Khet Mazdoor Union
Peasant's wing All India Kisan Sabha
(Ajoy Bhavan)
Ideology Communism
Marxism–Leninism
Political position Far-left
International affiliation International Meeting of
Communist and
Workers' Parties
Colours Red
ECI Status National Party[2]
Alliance UPA (2004–2008)
Left Front (West
Bengal)
Left Front (Tripura)
Left Democratic Front
(Kerala)
Punjab Democratic
Alliance
Seats in Lok Sabha 2 / 545
Seats in Rajya Sabha 1 / 245
Seats in 19 /
140
(Kerala Legislative
Assembly (2016))
1 / 294
(West Bengal
Legislative Assembly
2016)
Election symbol
Website
https://www.communistparty.in/
Politics of India
Political parties
Elections
History
Formation
The Communist Party of India has

officially stated that it was formed on 26
December 1925 at the first Party
Conference in Kanpur, then Cawnpore. S.
V. Ghate was the first General Secretary of
CPI. But as per the version of CPI (M), the
Communist Party of India was founded in
Tashkent, Turkestan Autonomous Soviet
Socialist Republic on 17 October 1920,
soon after the Second Congress of the
Communist International. The founding
members of the party were M.N. Roy,
Evelyn Trent Roy (Roy's wife), Abani
Mukherji, Rosa Fitingof (Abani's wife),
Mohammad Ali (Ahmed Hasan),
Mohammad Shafiq Siddiqui, Hasrat
Mohani, Rafiq Ahmed of Bhopal and M.P.T.
Aacharya, and Sultan Ahmed Khan Tarin of
North-West Frontier Province.[7][8][9] The
CPI says that there were many communist
groups formed by Indians with the help of
foreigners in different parts of the world
and the Tashkent group was only one of.
contacts with Anushilan and Jugantar
groups in Bengal. Small communist
groups were formed in Bengal (led by
Muzaffar Ahmed), Bombay (led by S.A.
Dange), Madras (led by Singaravelu
Chettiar), United Provinces (led by Shaukat
Usmani) and Punjab and Sindh (led by
Ghulam Hussain). However, only Usmani
became a CPI party member.[10]
Involvement in independence
struggle
During the 1920s and the early 1930s the

party was badly organised, and in practice
there were several communist groups
working with limited national coordination.
The British colonial authorities had banned
all communist activity, which made the
task of building a united party very
difficult. Between 1921 and 1924 there
were three conspiracy trials against the
communist movement; First Peshawar
Conspiracy Case, Meerut Conspiracy Case
and the Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy
Case. In the first three cases, Russian-
trained muhajir communists were put on
trial. However, the Cawnpore trial had
more political impact. On 17 March 1924,
Shripad Amrit Dange, M.N. Roy, Muzaffar
Ahmed, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani,
Singaravelu Chettiar, Ghulam Hussain and
R.C. Sharma were charged, in Cawnpore
(now spelt Kanpur) Bolshevik Conspiracy
case. The specific pip charge was that
they as communists were seeking "to
deprive the King Emperor of his
sovereignty of British India, by complete
separation of India from imperialistic
Britain by a violent revolution." Pages of
newspapers daily splashed sensational
communist plans and people for the first
time learned, on such a large scale, about
communism and its doctrines and the
aims of the Communist International in
India.[11]
Singaravelu Chettiar was released on

account of illness. M.N. Roy was in
Germany and R.C. Sharma in French
Pondichéry, and therefore could not be
arrested. Ghulam Hussain confessed that
he had received money from the Russians
in Kabul and was pardoned. Muzaffar
Ahmed, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani and
Dange were sentenced for various terms
of imprisonment. This case was
responsible for actively introducing
communism to a larger Indian
audience.[11] Dange was released from
prison in 1927. Rahul Dev Pal was a
prominent communist leader
On 25 December 1925 a communist

conference was organised in Kanpur.[12]
Colonial authorities estimated that 500
persons took part in the conference. The
conference was convened by a man called
Satyabhakta. At the conference
Satyabhakta argued for a 'National
communism' and against subordination
under Comintern. Being outvoted by the
other delegates, Satyabhakta left the
conference venue in protest. The
conference adopted the name 'Communist
Party of India'. Groups such as Labour
Kisan Party of Hindustan (LKPH) dissolved
into the unified CPI.[13] The émigré CPI,
which probably had little organic character
anyway, was effectively substituted by the
organisation now operating inside India.
Soon after the 1926 conference of the

Workers and Peasants Party of Bengal, the
underground CPI directed its members to
join the provincial Workers and Peasants
Parties. All open communist activities
were carried out through Workers and
Peasants Parties.[14]
The sixth congress of the Communist

International met in 1928. In 1927 the
Kuomintang had turned on the Chinese
communists, which led to a review of the
policy on forming alliances with the
national bourgeoisie in the colonial
countries. The Colonial theses of the 6th
Comintern congress called upon the
Indian communists to combat the
'national-reformist leaders' and to 'unmask
the national reformism of the Indian
National Congress and oppose all phrases
of the Swarajists, Gandhists, etc. about
passive resistance'.[15] The congress did
however differentiate between the
character of the Chinese Kuomintang and
the Indian Swarajist Party, considering the
latter as neither a reliable ally nor a direct
enemy. The congress called on the Indian
communists to utilize the contradictions
between the national bourgeoisie and the
British imperialists.[16] The congress also
denounced the WPP. The Tenth Plenum of
the Executive Committee of the
Communist International, 3 July 1929 – 19
July 1929, directed the Indian communists
to break with WPP. When the communists
deserted it, the WPP fell apart.[17]
Portrait of 25 of Meerut Prisoners taken outside the

jail. Backrow:(left to right) K.N. Sehgal, S.S. Josh, H.L.
Hutchinson, Shaukat Usmani, B.F. Bradly, A. Prasad,
Philip Spratt, and G. Adhikari. Middle Row: K.R. Mitra,
Gopan Chakravarthy, Kishore Lal Ghosh, K.L. Kadam,
D.R. Thengdi, Goura Shanker, S. Banerjee, K.N.
Joglekar, Puran Chand Joshi, and Muzaffar Ahmed.
Front Row: M.G. Desai, G. Goswami, R.S. Nimkar, S.S.
Mirajkar, S.A. Dange, S.V. Ghate and Gopal Basak.
On 20 March 1929, arrests against WPP,

CPI and other labour leaders were made in
several parts of India, in what became
known as the Meerut Conspiracy Case.
The communist leadership was now put
behind bars. The trial proceedings were to
last for four years.[18][19]
As of 1934, the main centres of activity of

CPI were Bombay, Calcutta and Punjab.
The party had also begun extending its
activities to Madras. A group of Andhra
and Tamil students, amongst them P.
Sundarayya, were recruited to the CPI by
Amir Hyder Khan.[20]
The party was reorganised in 1933, after

the communist leaders from the Meerut
trials were released. A central committee
of the party was set up. In 1934 the party
was accepted as the Indian section of the
Communist International.[21]
When Indian leftwing elements formed the

Congress Socialist Party in 1934, the CPI
branded it as Social Fascist.[15]
The League Against Gandhism, initially

known as the Gandhi Boycott Committee,
was a political organisation in Calcutta,
founded by the underground Communist
Party of India and others to launch militant
anti-Imperialist activities. The group took
the name ‘League Against Gandhism’ in
1934.[22]
In connection with the change of policy of

the Comintern toward Popular Front
politics, the Indian communists changed
their relation to the Indian National
Congress. The communists joined the
Congress Socialist Party, which worked as
the left wing of Congress. Through joining
CSP, the CPI accepted the CSP demand for
a Constituent Assembly, which it had
denounced two years before. The CPI
however analysed that the demand for a
Constituent Assembly would not be a
substitute for soviets.[23]
In July 1937, the first Kerala unit of CPI
was founded at a clandestine meeting in
Calicut. Five persons were present at the
meeting, P. Krishna Pillai E.M.S.
Namboodiripad, N.C. Sekhar, K.
Damodaran and S.V. Ghate. The first four
were members of the CSP in Kerala. The
latter, Ghate, was a CPI Central Committee
member, who had arrived from Madras.[24]
Contacts between the CSP in Kerala and
the CPI had begun in 1935, when P.
Sundarayya (CC member of CPI, based in
Madras at the time) met with EMS and
Krishna Pillai. Sundarayya and Ghate
visited Kerala at several times and met
with the CSP leaders there. The contacts
were facilitated through the national
meetings of the Congress, CSP and All
India Kisan Sabha.[20]
In 1936–1937, the cooperation between

socialists and communists reached its
peak. At the 2nd congress of the CSP, held
in Meerut in January 1936, a thesis was
adopted which declared that there was a
need to build 'a united Indian Socialist
Party based on Marxism-Leninism'.[25] At
the 3rd CSP congress, held in Faizpur,
several communists were included into the
CSP National Executive Committee.[26]
In Kerala communists won control over
CSP, and for a brief period controlled
Congress there.
Two communists, E.M.S. Namboodiripad

and Z.A. Ahmed, became All India joint
secretaries of CSP. The CPI also had two
other members inside the CSP
executive.[23]
On the occasion of the 1940 Ramgarh

Congress Conference CPI released a
declaration called Proletarian Path, which
sought to utilise the weakened state of the
British Empire in the time of war and gave
a call for general strike, no-tax, no-rent
policies and mobilising for an armed
revolutionary uprising. The National
Executive of the CSP assembled at
Ramgarh took a decision that all
communists were expelled from CSP.[27]
In July 1942, the CPI was legalised, as a

result of Britain and the Soviet Union
becoming allies against Nazi Germany.[28]
Communists strengthened their control
over the All India Trade Union Congress. At
the same time, communists were
politically cornered for their opposition to
the Quit India Movement.
CPI contested the Provincial Legislative
Assembly elections of 1946 of its own. It
had candidates in 108 out of 1585 seats. It
won in eight seats. In total the CPI vote
counted 666 723, which should be seen
with the backdrop that 86% of the adult
population of India lacked voting rights.
The party had contested three seats in
Bengal, and won all of them. One CPI
candidate, Somnath Lahiri, was elected to
the Constituent Assembly.[29]
After independence
During the period around and directly

following Independence in 1947, the
internal situation in the party was chaotic.
The party shifted rapidly between left-wing
and right-wing positions. In February 1948,
at the 2nd Party Congress in Calcutta, B. T.
Ranadive (BTR) was elected General
Secretary of the party.[30] The conference
adopted the 'Programme of Democratic
Revolution'. This programme included the
first mention of struggle against caste
injustice in a CPI document.[31]
In several areas the party led armed

struggles against a series of local
monarchs that were reluctant to give up
their power. Such insurgencies took place
in Tripura, Telangana and Kerala. The most
important rebellion took place in
Telangana, against the Nizam of
Hyderabad. The Communists built up a
people's army and militia and controlled an
area with a population of three million. The
rebellion was brutally crushed and the
party abandoned the policy of armed
struggle. BTR was deposed and
denounced as a 'left adventurist'.
In Manipur, the party became a force to

reckon with through the agrarian struggles
led by Jananeta Irawat Singh. Singh had
joined CPI in 1946.[32] At the 1951
congress of the party, 'People's
Democracy' was substituted by 'National
Democracy' as the main slogan of the
party.[33]
Communist Party was founded in Bihar in

1939. Post independence, communist
party achieved success in Bihar (Bihar and
Jharkhand). Communist party conducted
movements for land reform, trade union
movement was at its peak in Bihar in the
sixties, seventies and eighties.
Achievement of communists in Bihar
placed the communist party in the
forefront of left movement in India. Bihar
produced some of the legendary leaders
like Kishan leaders Sahjanand Saraswati
and Karyanand Sharma, intellectual giants
like Jagannath Sarkar, Yogendra Sharma
and Indradeep Sinha, mass leaders like
Chandrashekhar Singh and Sunil
Mukherjee, Trade Union leaders like Kedar
Das and others. It was in Bihar that JP's
total revolution was exposed and
communist party under the leadership of
Jagannath Sarkar fought Total Revolution
and exposed its hollowness. "Many
Streams" Selected Essays by Jagannath
Sarkar and Reminiscing Sketches,
Compiled by Gautam Sarkar, Edited by
Mitali Sarkar, First Published : May 2010,
Navakaranataka Publications Pvt. Ltd.,
Bangalore . In the Mithila region of Bihar
Bhogendra Jha led the fight against the
Mahants and Zamindars. He later went on
the win Parliamentary elections and was
MP for seven terms.
In early 1950s young communist

leadership was uniting textile workers,
bank employees and unorganized sector
workers to ensure mass support in north
India. National leaders like S A Dange,
Chandra Rajeswara Rao and P K
Vasudevan Nair were encouraging them
and supporting the idea despite their
differences on the execution. Firebrand
Communist leaders like Homi F. Daji, Guru
Radha Kishan, H L Parwana, Sarjoo
Pandey, Darshan Singh Canadian and
Avtaar Singh Malhotra were emerging
between the masses and the working
class in particular. This was the first
leadership of communists that was very
close to the masses and people consider
them champions of the cause of the
workers and the poor. In Delhi, May Day
(majdoor diwas or mai diwas) was
organised at Chandni Chowk Ghantaghar
in such a manner that demonstrates the
unity between all the factions of working
classes and ignite the passion for
communist movement in the northern part
of India.
In 1952, CPI became the first leading
opposition party in the Lok Sabha, while
the Indian National Congress was in
power.
Communist movement or CPI in particular

emerged as a front runner after Guru
Radha Kishan undertook a fast unto death
for 24 days to promote the cause of textile
workers in Delhi. Till than it was a public
misconception that communists are
revolutionaries with arms in their hands
and workers and their families were afraid
to get associated with the communists but
this act mobilised general public in the
favour of communist movement as a
whole. During this period people with their
families used to visit 'dharna sthal' to
encourage CPI cadre.
This model of selflessness for the society

worked for the CPI far more than what was
expected. This trend was followed by
almost all other state units of the party in
the Hindi heartland. Communist Party
related trade union AITUC became a
prominent force to unite the workers in
textile, municipal and unorganised sectors,
the first labour union in unorganised
sector was also emerged in the leadership
of Comrade Guru Radha Kishan during this
period in Delhi's Sadar Bazaar area. This
movement of mass polarisation of
workers in the favour of CPI worked
effectively in Delhi and paved the way for
great success of CPI in the elections in
working class dominated areas in Delhi.
Comrade Gangadhar Adhikari and E.M.S.
Namboodiripad applauded this brigade of
dynamic comrades for their selfless
approach and organisational capabilities.
This brigade of firebrand communists
gained more prominence when Telangana
hero Chandra Rajeswara Rao rose to be
General Secretary of the Communist Party
of India.
In the 1952 Travancore-Cochin Legislative
Assembly election, Communist Party was
banned, so it couldn't take part in the
election process.[34] In the general
elections in 1957, the CPI emerged as the
largest opposition party. In 1957, the CPI
won the state elections in Kerala. This was
the first time that an opposition party won
control over an Indian state. E. M. S.
Namboodiripad became Chief Minister. At
the 1957 international meeting of
Communist parties in Moscow, the
Communist Party of China directed
criticism at the CPI for having formed a
ministry in Kerala.[35]
Ideological differences lead to the split in
the party in 1964 when two different party
conferences were held, one of CPI and one
of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
There is a common misconception that
the rift during the Sino-Indian war, when
Communist Party Of India proudly
supported China in the war led to the 1962
split. In fact, the split was leftists vs
rightists, rather than internationalists vs
nationalists. The presence of nationalists
in CPI, and internationalists P. Sundarayya,
Jyoti Basu, and Harkishan Singh Surjeet in
the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
proves this fact.
During the period 1970–77, CPI was allied
with the Congress party. In Kerala, they
formed a government together with
Congress, with the CPI-leader C. Achutha
Menon as Chief Minister. After the fall of
the regime of Indira Gandhi, CPI reoriented
itself towards cooperation with CPI(M).
In 1986, the CPI's leader in the Punjab and

MLA in the Punjabi legislature Darshan
Singh Canadian was assassinated by Sikh
extremists. Then on 19 May 1987, Deepak
Dhawan, General Secretary of Punjab
CPI(M), was murdered. Altogether about
200 communist leaders out of which most
were Sikhs were killed by Sikh extremists
in Punjab.
Present situation
State/s which had a chief minister from the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M).
State/s which had a chief minister from the CPI-
M.
State/s which had chief ministers from both the
CPI-M and the Communist Party of India (CPI).
States which did not have/had a chief minister
from the CPI-M or the CPI.
Union territories without a state government.
Mural in Thiruvananthapuram
CPI was recognized by the Election

Commission of India as a 'National Party'.
To date, CPI happens to be the only
national political party from India to have
contested all the general elections using
the same electoral symbol. Owing to a
massive defeat in 2019 Indian general
election where the party saw its tally
reduce to 2 MP, the Election Commission
of India has sent a letter to CPI asking for
reasons why its national party status
should not be revoked.[36][37][38][39][40] If
similar performance is repeated in the
next election, the CPI will no longer be a
national party.
On the national level they supported the

Indian National Congress-led United
Progressive Alliance government along
with other parliamentary Left parties, but
without taking part in it. Upon attaining
power in May 2004, the United Progressive
Alliance formulated a programme of
action known as the Common Minimum
Programme. The Left bases its support to
the UPA on strict adherence to it.
Provisions of the CMP mentioned to
discontinue disinvestment, massive social
sector outlays and an independent foreign
policy.
On 8 July 2008, Prakash Karat, General

Secretary of CPI(M) announced that the
Left was withdrawing its support over the
decision by the government to go ahead
with the United States-India Peaceful
Atomic Energy Cooperation Act. The Left
parties combination had been a staunch
advocate of not proceeding with this deal
citing national interests.[41]
In West Bengal it participates in the Left

Front. It also participated in the state
government in Manipur. In Kerala the party
is part of Left Democratic Front. In Tripura
the party is a partner of the Left Front,
which governed the state till 2018. In Tamil
Nadu it is part of the Progressive
Democratic Alliance. It is involved in the
Left Democratic Front in Maharashtra
The current general secretary of CPI is D.

Raja.
Party Congress
22nd Congress of Communist Party of India being

held in Pondicherry
Party Congress Year Place
1 1925 December 25 to 28 Kanpur [42]
2 1948 February 28 to March 27 Calcutta
3 1953 December 27 to January 4 Madhura
4 1956 April 19 to 29 Palakkad
5 1958 April 6 to 13 Amritsar
6 1961 April 7 to 16 Vijayawada
7 1964 December 13-23 Bombay
8 1968 February 7–15 Patna
9 1971 October Cochin
10 1975 January 27 - 2 February Vijayawada
11 1978 March 31-April 7 Bathinda
12 1982 March 22 to 28 Varanasi
13 1986 March 2 to 17 Patna
14 1989 March 6–12 Calcutta
15 1992 April 10 to 16 Hyderabad
16 1995 October Delhi
17 1998 September 14-19 Chennai
18 2002 March 26 to 31 Thiruvananthapuram
19 2005 March 29 0 April 3 Chandigarh
20 2008 March 23–27 Hyderabad
21 2012 March 27–31 Patna
22 2015 March 25–29 Pondicherry
23 2018 April 25–29 Kollam
Leadership
Newly Elected CPI National Leadership
The following are the members of the
Central Control Commission, National
Council and Candidate Members to
National Council, National Executive,
National Secretariat and Party Programme
Commission elected at the 23rd Party
Congress of Communist Party of India
held from 25 to 29 April 2018 in Kollam,
Kerala:
Central Control Commission
1. Pannian Ravindran (Chairman)

2. C.A. Kurien
3. Dr Joginder Dayal (Punjab)
4. C.R. Bakshi (Chattisgarh)
5. P.J.C. Rao (Andhra Pradesh)
6. Bijoy Narayan Mishra (Bihar)
7. Moti Lal (Uttar Pradesh)
8. M. Sakhi Devi (Manipur)
9. T. Narsimhan (Telangana)
10. M. Arumugham (Tamil Nadu)
11. Apurba Mandal (West Bengal)
National Council Members
S. Sudhakar Reddy
Gurudas Dasgupta
D. Raja
Shameem Faizee
Atul Kumar Anjaan
Ramendra Kumar
Amarjeet Kaur
Dr. K. Narayana
Nagendranath Ojha
Dr. B.K. Kango
Binoy Viswam
Pallab Sengutpa
Annie Raja - Women Front
Azeez Pasha
CH Venkatachalam - Bank Front
B.V. Vijaylakshmi - TU Front
S. V. Damle - TU Front
Vidyasagar Giri - TU Front
R.S. Yadav - Mukti Sangharsh
Manish Kunjam - Tribal Front
C. Srikumar - Defence
Gargi Chakravarthy - Women Front
Anil Rajimwale - Education Department
Viswajeet Kumar - Student Front
R. Thirumalai - Youth Front
Kanhaiya Kumar
A.A. Khan - Minority Front
AndhraPradesh
K. Ramakrishna
M.N. Rao
J.V.S.N. Murthy
Jalli Wilson
Akkineni Vanaja
Assam
Munin Mahanta
Kanak Gogoi
Bihar
Satya Narayan Singh

Ram Naresh Pandey
Janki Paswan
Jabbar Alam
Rajendra Prasad Singh
Rageshri Kiran
Om Prakash Narayan
Pramod Prabhakar
Ram Chandra Singh
Nivedita
Chhattisgarh
R.D.C.P. Rao
Rama Sori
Delhi
Dhirendra K. Sharma
Prof. Dinesh Varshney
Goa
Chirstopher Fonseca
Gujarat
Raj Kumar Singh
Vijay Shenmare
Haryana
Dariyao Singh Kashyap
Himachal Pradesh
Shayam Singh Chauhan
Jharkhand
Bhubaneshwar Prasad Mehta

K.D. Singh
Rajendra Prasad Yadav
Mahendra Pathak
Jammu and Kashmir

Vacant
Karnataka
P.V. Lokesh
Saathi Sundaresh
Kerala
Kanam Rajendran
K.E. Ismail
K. Prekash Babu
E. Chandrasekharan
Adv. P. Vasantham
T.V. Balan
C.N. Jayadevan
K.P. Rajendran
J. Chinju Rani
Adv. N. Anirudhan
Adv. Rajan
Manipur
M. Nara Singh
L. Sotin Kumar
Meghalaya
Samudra Gupta
Maharashtra
Tukaram Bhasme
Namdev Gavade
Ram Baheti
Prakash Reddy
Madhya Pradesh
Arvind Shrivastava
Haridwar Singh
Odisha
Dibakar Nayak
Ashish Kanungo
Abhaya Sahoo
Ramakrushna Panda
Souribandhu Kar
Puducherry
A.M. Saleem
A. Ramamoorthy
Punjab
Bant Singh Brar

Jagrup Singh
Hardev Singh Arshi
Nirmal Singh Dhaliwal
Jagjit Singh Joga
Rajasthan
Narendra Acharya
Tara Singh Sidhu
Tripura
Vacant
Tamil Nadu
R. Nallakkannu
D. Pandian
R. Mutharasan
C. Mahendran
K. Subbarayan
M. Veerapandian
T.M. Murthi
G. Palaniswamy
P. Padmavathi
P. Sethuraman
Telangana
Chada Venkat Reddy
Palla Venkat Reddy
K. Sambasiva Rao
Pasya Padma
K. Srinivas Reddy
K. Shanker
T. Srinivas Rao
Uttar Pradesh
Dr. Girish Sharma

Arvind Raj Swarup
Imtiyaz Ahmed
Prof. Nisha Rathor
Ram Chand Saras
Uttarakhand
Samar Bhandari
West Bengal
Swapan Banerjee
Manju Kumar Mazumdar
Santosh Rana
Shyama Sree Das
Ujjawal Chaudhury
Chittaranjan Das Thakur
Prabir Deb
Tarun Das
Candidate Members
Krishna Jha (New Age)
Prof. Arun Kumar (Teachers)
Aftab Alam Khan (Youth Front)
Wali – Ullah – Khadri (Student Front)
N. Chidambaram (New Age/Office)
Dr. Arun Mitra (Doctor’s Front)
M. Bal Narsima (Telangana)
Mithlesh Jha (Bihar)
Suhaas Naik (Goa)
Mahesh Kakkath (Kerala)
Kh. Surchand Singh (Manipur)
Richard B. Thabah (Meghalaya)
G. Obulesu (Andhra Pradesh)
Invitee Members Lakshdweep
National Executive
1. S. Sudhakar Reddy
2. D. Raja
3. Shameem Faizee
4. Atul Kumar Anjaan
5. Amarjeet Kaur
6. Ramendra Kumar
7. Dr. K. Narayana
8. Kanam Rajendran
9. Binoy Viswam
10. Dr. B.K. Kango
11. Pallab Sengupta
12. Nagendra Nath Ojha
13. Dr. Girish Sharma
14. Annie Raja
15. Azeez Pasha
16. K. Ramakrishna
17. Satya Narayan Singh
18. Janaki Paswan
19. Ram Naresh Pandey
20. Bhubaneshwar Prasad Mehta
21. K.E. Ismail
22. Dr. M. Nara Singh
23. Dibakar Naik
24. R. Mutharasan
25. C. Mahendran
26. Chada Venkata Reddy
27. K. Subbarayan
28. Swapan Banerjee
29. Bant Singh Brar
30. Munin Mahanto
31. C.H. Venkatachalam
Ex-Officio Members
1. Pannian Ravindran (Chairperson,

Central Control Commission)
2. Gurudas Dasgupta (Chairman,
Permanent Programme Commission)
National Secretariat
1. S. Sudhakar Reddy
2. D. Raja
3. Shameem Faizee
4. Atul Kumar Anjaan
5. Amarjeet Kaur
6. Ramendra Kumar
7. Dr. K. Narayana
8. Kanam Rajendran
9. Binoy Viswam
10. Dr. B.K. Kango
11. Pallab Sen Gupta
Party Programme Commission
1. Gurudas Dasgupta (Chairman)

2. Pallab Sen Gupta (Secretary)
3. Prekash Babu
4. C.R. Bakshi
5. Dr. Nara Singh
6. Anil Rajimwale
State Committee secretaries
Andhra Pradesh : K.Ramakrishna

Assam : Munin Mahanta
Bihar : Satya Narayan Singh
Chhattisgarh : RDCP Rao
Delhi :Prof.Dinesh Varshney
Goa : RD Mangueshkar
Gujarat : Rajkumar Singh
Haryana : Dariyao Singh Kashyap
Himachal Pradesh : Shayam Singh
Chauhan
Jharkhand : Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta
Kerala : Kanam Rajendran
Karnataka : Saathi Sundaresh
Maharashtra : Tukaram Bhasme
Madhya Pradesh : Arvind Shrivastava
Manipur : L. Sotin Kumar
Meghalaya : Samudra Gupta
Odisha : Ashish Kanungo
Puducherry : A.M. Saleem
Punjab : Bant Singh Brar
Rajasthan : Narendra Acharya
Tamilnadu : R. Mutharasan
Telangana : Chada Venkat Reddy
Uttar Pradesh : Dr. Girish Sharma
Uttarakhand : Samar Bhandari
West Bengal : Swapan Banerjee
Principal mass organisations

of the CPI
All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC)
All India Youth Federation (AIYF)
All India Students Federation (AISF)
National Federation of Indian Women
(NFIW)
All India Kisan Sabha - AIKS (peasants
organisation)
Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union - BKMU
(agricultural workers)
Indian People's Theatre Association -
IPTA (cultural wing)
All India State Government Employees
Federation (State government
employees)
Indian Society for cultural cooperation
and Friendship (ISCUF)
All India Peace and Solidarity
Organisation (AIPSO)
General Secretaries
1. Sachchidanand Vishnu Ghate
2. Gangadhar Adhikari
3. Puran Chand Joshi
4. B. T. Ranadive
5. Chandra Rajeswara Rao
6. Ajoy Ghosh
7. E. M. S. Namboodiripad
8. Indrajit Gupta
9. Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan
10. Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy
11. D Raja (Present)
Notable leaders
N.E. Balaram - Founding leader of the
communist movement in Kerala, India
Mohit Banerji (Mohit Bandopadhay)
(1912–1961)
M. N. Govindan Nair – Kerala state
secretary during the first communist
ministry and a freedom fighter
C. Achutha Menon – Finance minister in
first Kerala ministry Former chief
minister of Kerala
Hasrat Mohani – founding member
T. V. Thomas – Minister in first Kerala
ministry
M. Kalyanasundaram – Parliamentarian
P. K. Vasudevan Nair – Ex. Chief
minister of Kerala,Former AISF general
secretary,Former AIYF general secretary
Puran Chand Joshi – first general
secretary of the Communist Party of
India
Indrajit Gupta – Parliamentarian, former
general secretary and a former central
minister
Bhupesh Gupta – Parliamentarian
Ajoy Ghosh – Former general secretary
of CPI, freedom fighter
Chandra Rajeswara Rao – former
general secretary, Telangana freedom
fighter
Jagannath Sarkar – former National
Secretary, freedom fighter, builder of
communist movement in Bihar and
Jharkhand
Hirendranath Mukherjee-Parliamentarian
& He was awarded Padma Bhushan in
1990 and Padma Vibhushan in 1991 by
the President of India for his lifelong
services.
Geeta Mukherjee - Parliamentarian &
Former President of National Federation
of Indian Women
Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan – Former
general secretary & Parliamentarian
Chaturanan Mishra parliamentarian &
former Central Minister of India
Gurudas Dasgupta - Parliamentarian &
Former General Secretary of the All India
Trade Union Congress (AITUC) .
Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy – current
general secretary of the party
D. Raja – parliamentarian & secretary of
the party
Shripad Amrit Dange – Freedom fighter
& former chairman of the party
Hijam Irabot – Founder leader of CPI in
Manipur
P. S. Sreenivasan – Former minister of
Kerala
C. K. Chandrappan – Parliamentarian &
former Kerala state secretary of the
party
Annabhau Sathe - Samyukta
Maharashtra movement leader
Pannyan Raveendran – Former Kerala
state secretary of the party
Kanam Rajendran – Current Kerala state
secretary of the party
Nallakannu – Parliamentarian & former
Tamil Nadu state secretary of the party
D. Pandian - Parliamentarian & former
Tamil Nadu state secretary
Binoy Viswam – Member of Rajya
Sabha, Former minister in the
Government of Kerala
Bhalchandra Kango - Veteran Trade
Unionist, Marxist Thinker, CPI National
Secretariat Member
Thoppil Bhasi – Writer, film director &
parliamentarian
Veliyam Bharghavan – Parliamentarian
& Former Kerala state secretary of the
party
E. Chandrasekharan Nair – Senior leader
and Former Minister in the Government
of Kerala
Ramendra Kumar – Former
Parliamentarian, national executive
member, national president AITUC
Meghraj Tawar – Udaipur district
secretary
Govind Pansare – Prominent activist
and lawyer
R.Sugathan - Prominent trade unionist,
mass leader and member of Kerala
Legislative assembly
Kanhaiya Kumar - CPI National Council
Member, Ex JNUSU President, Leader of
AISF National Council
C. Divakaran - Senior leader, former
minister and National Council Member
from Kerala
C. N. Jayadevan - Senior
leader,parliamentarian
Rajaji Mathew Thomas - Journalist,
former MLA and CPI National council
Member, from Kerala
Chittayam Gopakumar - Kerala MLA and
State council member
Former Chief Ministers

E. M. S. Namboodiripad(First
communist Government Kerala 1957-
1959)
C. Achutha Menon-Kerala(1969-1970)
(1970-1977)
P. K. Vasudevan Nair-Kerala(1978-1979)
Lok Sabha election tally

[43][44]
Performance of Communist Party of India in Lok Sabha elections
Net
Change
Lok Sabha Seats Change
Lok Sabha Year Won Votes Votes % in Refe
constituencies Contested in
vote %
seats
First 1952 489 49 16 - 3,487,401 3.29% -
Second 1957 494 109 27 11 10,754,075 8.92%

5.63%
Third 1962 494 137 29 02 11,450,037 9.94%

1.02%
Fourth 1967 520 109 23 06 7,458,396 5.11%

4.83%
Fifth 1971 518 87 23 00 6,933,627 4.73%

0.38%
Sixth 1977 542 91 7 16 5,322,088 2.82%

1.91%
Seventh 1980 529 ( 542* ) 47 10 03 4,927,342 2.49%

0.33%
Eighth 1984 541 66 6 04 6,733,117 2.70%

0.21%
Ninth 1989 529 50 12 06 7,734,697 2.57%

0.13%
Tenth 1991 534 43 14 02 6,898,340 2.48%

0.09%
Eleventh 1996 543 43 12 02 6,582,263 1.97%

0.51%
Twelfth 1998 543 58 09 03 6,429,569 1.75%

0.22%
Thirteenth 1999 543 54 04 05 5,395,119 1.48%

0.27%
Fourteenth 2004 543 34 10 06 5,484,111 1.41%

0.07%
Fifteenth 2009 543 56 04 06 5,951,888 1.43%
0.02%
Sixteenth 2014 543 67 01 03 4,327,298 0.78%

0.65%
Seventeenth 2019 543 02 01
* : 12 seats in Assam and 1 in Meghalaya

did not vote.[63]
No. of No. of No. of No. of
Total no. of seats
State candidates elected candidates elected
in the state
2014 2014 2009 2009
(25)
Andhra Pradesh 1 0 2 0
(2014)/42(2009)
Arunachal
0 0 0 0 2
Pradesh
Assam 1 0 3 0 14
Bihar 2 0 7 0 40
Chhattisgarh 2 0 1 0 11
Goa 2 0 2 0 2
Gujarat 1 0 1 0 26
Haryana 2 0 1 0 10
Himachal Pradesh 0 0 0 0 4
Jammu and
0 0 1 0 6
Kashmir
Jharkhand 3 0 3 0 14
Karnataka 3 0 1 0 28
Kerala 4 1 4 0 20
Madhya Pradesh 5 0 3 0 29
Maharashtra 4 0 3 0 48
Manipur 1 0 1 0 2
Meghalaya 1 0 1 0 2
Mizoram 0 0 0 0 1
Nagaland 0 0 0 0 1
Odisha 4 0 1 1 21
Punjab 5 0 2 0 13
Rajasthan 3 0 2 0 25
Sikkim 0 0 0 0 1
Tamil Nadu 8 0 3 1 39
Tripura 0 0 0 0 2
Uttar Pradesh 8 0 9 0 80
Uttarakhand 1 0 1 0 5
West Bengal 3 0 3 2 42
Union Territories:
Andaman and
0 0 0 0 1
Nicobar Islands
Chandigarh 0 0 0 0 1
Dadra and Nagar

0 0 0 0 1
Haveli
Daman and Diu 0 0 0 0 1
Delhi 1 0 1 0 7
Lakshadweep 1 0 0 0 1
Puducherry 1 0 0 0 1
Total: 67 1 56 4 543
State election results

No. of No. Total no. of seats in Year of
State
candidates elected Assembly Election
Andhra Pradesh 38 0 294 2014
Assam 15 0 126 2016
Bihar 98 0 243 2015
Chhattisgarh 13 0 90 2013
Delhi 5 0 70 2015
Goa 2 0 40 2017
Gujarat 3 0 182 2012
Haryana 14 0 90 2014
Himachal Pradesh 6 0 68 2012
Jammu and
3 0 87 2014
Kashmir
Jharkhand 24 0 81 2014
Karnataka 8 0 224 2013
Kerala 25 19 140 2016
Madhya Pradesh 23 0 230 2013
Maharashtra 33 0 288 2014
Manipur 6 0 60 2017
Meghalaya 1 0 60 2013
Mizoram 0 0 40 2013
Odisha 32 0 147 2014
Puducherry 7 0 30 2016
Punjab 23 0 117 2017
Rajasthan 23 0 200 2013
Tamil Nadu 25 0 234 2016
Tripura 1 0 60 2018
Uttar Pradesh 68 0 403 2017
Uttarakhand 4 0 70 2017
West Bengal 11 1 294 2016
Results from the Election Commission of

India website. Results do not deal with
partitions of states (Bihar was bifurcated
after the 2000 election, creating
Jharkhand), defections and by-elections
during the mandate period.
See also
List of political parties in India
Politics of India
List of communist parties
Marxist League (India)
Jana Yuddha
Calcutta Thesis
Footnotes
1. https://www.thehindu.com/news/natio
nal/d-raja-takes-over-as-cpi-general-
secretary/article28626860.ece .
Missing or empty |title= (help)
2. "List of Political Parties and Election
Symbols main Notification Dated
18.01.2013" (PDF). India: Election
Commission of India. 2013. Archived
(PDF) from the original on 24 October
2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
3. "NPP Becomes First Political Outfit
from the Northeast to get Status of
National Party" . 7 June 2019.
4. "Recognised National Parties:ECI" .
5. "Brief History of CPI - CPI" . Archived
from the original on 9 December 2015.
Retrieved 1 December 2015.
6. Chakrabarty, Bidyut (2014).
Communism in India: Events,
Processes and Ideologies. Oxford
University Press. p. 314.
ISBN 9780199974894.
7. Later arrested, tried and sentenced to
hard labour in the Moscow-Peshawar
Conspiracy Case in 1922; see NWFP
and Punjab Government Intelligence
Reports, Vols 2 and 3, 1925-1931, at
the IOR, British Library, London, UK
8. M.V. S. Koteswara Rao. Communist
Parties and United Front – Experience
in Kerala and West Bengal. Hyderabad:
Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 88-89
9. Ganguly, Basudev. S.A. Dange – A
Living Presence at the Centenary Year
in Banerjee, Gopal (ed.) S.A. Dange – A
Fruitful Life. Calcutta: Progressive
Publishers, 2002. p. 63.
Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 89.
11. Ralhan, O.P. (ed.) Encyclopedia of
Political Parties New Delhi: Anmol
Publications p. 336, Rao. p. 89-91.
12. "Historical Moments in Kanpur" .
Archived from the original on 21
August 2016. Retrieved 14 August
2016.
14. M.V. S. Koteshwar Rao . Communist
Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 111
15. Saha, Murari Mohan (ed.), Documents
of the Revolutionary Socialist Party:
Volume One 1938–1947. Agartala:
Lokayata Chetana Bikash Society,
2001. p. 21-25
Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 97-98,
111–112
18. Ralhan, O.P. (ed.). Encyclopaedia of
Political Parties – India – Pakistan –
Bangladesh – National -Regional –
Local. Vol. 23. Revolutionary
Movements (1930–1946). New Delhi:
Anmol Publications, 2002. p. 689-691
Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 96
20. E.M.S. Namboodiripad. The
Communist Party in Kerala – Six
Decades of Struggle and Advance.
New Delhi: National Book Centre,
1994. p. 7
21. Surjeet, Harkishan Surjeet. March of
the Communist Movement in India –
An Introduction to the Documents of
the History of the Communist
Movement in India. Calcutta: National
Book Agency, 1998. p. 25
22. Roy Subodh, Communism in India –
Unpublished Documents 1925-1934.
Calcutta: National Book Agency, 1998.
p. 338-339, 359-360
23. Roy, Samaren. M.N. Roy: A Political
Biography. Hyderabad: Orient
Longman, 1998. p. 113, 115
1994. p. 6
1994. p. 44
1994. p. 45
27. Ralhan, O.P. (ed.). Encyclopedia of
Political Parties – India – Pakistan –
Bangladesh – National -Regional –
Local. Vol. 24. Socialist Movement in
India. New Delhi: Anmol Publications,
1997. p. 82
28. Surjeet, Harkishan Surjeet. March of
the Communist Movement in India –
An Introduction to the Documents of
the History of the Communist
Movement in India. Calcutta: National
Book Agency, 1998. p. 55
Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 207.
30. Chandra, Bipan & others (2000). India
after Independence 1947–2000, New
Delhi:Penguin, ISBN 0-14-027825-7,
p.204
31. "Page d'accueil - Sciences Po CERI"
(PDF). Archived (PDF) from the
original on 27 February 2008.
Retrieved 12 January 2008.
32. "The Telegraph - Calcutta :
Northeast" . Archived from the
original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved
6 April 2008.
1994. p. 273
34. "History of Kerala Legislature" .
Government of Kerala. Archived from
the original on 6 October 2014.
Retrieved 28 July 2015.
35. Basu, Pradip. Towards Naxalbari
(1953–1967) – An Account of Inner-
Party Ideological Struggle. Calcutta:
Progressive Publishers, 2000. p. 32.
36. "BSP, CPI, NCP get to retain national
status, for now - Times of India" . The
Times of India. Archived from the
original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved
25 November 2017.
37. "CPM may lose national party status -
Times of India" . The Times of India.
Archived from the original on 17
January 2018. Retrieved 25 November
2017.
38. "BSP, NCP and CPI may lose national
party status" . hindustantimes.com/.
11 August 2014. Archived from the
original on 16 November 2017.
Retrieved 25 November 2017.
39. "Reprieve for BSP, CPI as EC amends
rules" . The Hindu. Special
Correspondent. 23 August 2016.
ISSN 0971-751X . Retrieved
25 November 2017.
40. "EC might strip national party status
from BSP, NCP, CPI" .
www.oneindia.com. Archived from
the original on 16 November 2017.
Retrieved 25 November 2017.
41. [1]
42. http://genieforcity.com/kanpur/history
-kanpur.html . Missing or empty
|title= (help)
43. "Lok Sabha Elections 2009" (PDF).
Archived (PDF) from the original on 2
August 2013.
44. "Lok Sabha Elections 2014" (PDF).
Archived (PDF) from the original on 23
November 2016.
45. "LS Statistical Report : 1951 Vol. 1"
(PDF). Election Commission of India.
p. 70. Archived from the original (PDF)
on 8 October 2014. Retrieved
18 October 2014.
p. 49. Archived (PDF) from the original
on 4 April 2014. Retrieved 18 October
2014.
on 4 April 2014. Retrieved 18 October
2014.
on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 18 October
2014.
2014.
2014.
2014.
2014.
on 5 March 2016. Retrieved
18 October 2014.
2014.
2014.
on 6 June 2016. Retrieved 18 October
2014.
2014.
2014.
2014.
p. 101. Archived (PDF) from the
original on 18 July 2014. Retrieved
18 October 2014.
61. "LS 2009 : Performance of National
Parties" (PDF). Election Commission
of India. Archived (PDF) from the
18 October 2014.
62. "LS 2014 : List of successful
candidates" (PDF). Election
Commission of India. p. 93. Archived
(PDF) from the original on 24 October
2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
63. "Seventh Lok Sabha elections (1980)" .
Indian Express. Indian Express. 14
March 2014. Archived from the
18 October 2014.
Further reading
N.E. Balaram, A Short History of the
Communist Party of India. Kozikkode,
Cannanore, India: Prabhath Book House,
1967.
John H. Kautsky, Moscow and the
Communist Party of India: A Study in the
Postwar Evolution of International
Communist Strategy. New York: MIT
Press, 1956.
M.R. Masani, The Communist Party of
India: A Short History. New York:
Macmillan, 1954.
Samaren Roy, The Twice-Born Heretic:
M.N. Roy and the Comintern. Calcutta:
Firma KLM Private, 1986.
Wendy Singer, "Peasants and the
Peoples of the East: Indians and the
Rhetoric of the Comintern," in Tim Rees
and Andrew Thorpe, International
Communism and the Communist
International, 1919-43. Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1998.
G. Adhikari (ed.), Documents of the
History of the Communist Party of India:
Volume One, 1917-1922. New Delhi:
People's Publishing House, 1971.
G. Adhikari (ed.), Documents of the
History of the Communist Party of India:
Volume Two, 1923-1925. New Delhi:
People's Publishing House, 1974.
V.B. Karnick (ed.), Indian Communist
Party Documents, 1930-1956. Bombay:
Democratic Research Service/Institute
of Public Relations, 1957.
External links
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Communist Party of

This article has multiple issues. Please help

The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a

The Communist Party of India has

During the 1920s and the early 1930s the

Singaravelu Chettiar was released on

On 25 December 1925 a communist

Soon after the 1926 conference of the

The sixth congress of the Communist

Portrait of 25 of Meerut Prisoners taken outside the

On 20 March 1929, arrests against WPP,

As of 1934, the main centres of activity of

The party was reorganised in 1933, after

When Indian leftwing elements formed the

The League Against Gandhism, initially

In connection with the change of policy of

In 1936–1937, the cooperation between

Two communists, E.M.S. Namboodiripad

On the occasion of the 1940 Ramgarh

In July 1942, the CPI was legalised, as a

During the period around and directly

In several areas the party led armed

In Manipur, the party became a force to

Communist Party was founded in Bihar in

In early 1950s young communist

Communist movement or CPI in particular

This model of selﬂessness for the society

In 1986, the CPI's leader in the Punjab and

State/s which had a chief minister from the

CPI was recognized by the Election

On the national level they supported the

On 8 July 2008, Prakash Karat, General

In West Bengal it participates in the Left

The current general secretary of CPI is D.

22nd Congress of Communist Party of India being

1 1925 December 25 to 28 Kanpur [42]

2 1948 February 28 to March 27 Calcutta

3 1953 December 27 to January 4 Madhura

4 1956 April 19 to 29 Palakkad

5 1958 April 6 to 13 Amritsar

6 1961 April 7 to 16 Vijayawada

7 1964 December 13-23 Bombay

8 1968 February 7–15 Patna

9 1971 October Cochin

10 1975 January 27 - 2 February Vijayawada

11 1978 March 31-April 7 Bathinda

12 1982 March 22 to 28 Varanasi

13 1986 March 2 to 17 Patna

14 1989 March 6–12 Calcutta

15 1992 April 10 to 16 Hyderabad

16 1995 October Delhi

17 1998 September 14-19 Chennai

18 2002 March 26 to 31 Thiruvananthapuram

19 2005 March 29 0 April 3 Chandigarh

20 2008 March 23–27 Hyderabad

21 2012 March 27–31 Patna

22 2015 March 25–29 Pondicherry

23 2018 April 25–29 Kollam