1964: THE YEAR UNDIVIDED CPI SPLIT AND CPI(M) WAS BORN The Communist Party of (Marxist) will mark 50- years of its inception in October-November this year. The party, which has 16 Members of Parliament in the outgoing , has in the past five decades played a crucial role in the Indian political scene. It has run state governments in West and Kerala for several years and continues to have a government in . The CPI(M) also gave outside support to the National Front government of 1989, the United Front governments of 1996 to 1998 and the UPA-I government from 2004 to 2008. The CPI(M) claims it had a membership of 1.44 million in 2011, up from 1.18 lakh in 1964. The party has seen a perilous electoral decline in recent years and is expected to see one of its worst File photo of a rickshaw puller moving past a CPI(M) flag electoral performances of the last three decades in the in PHOTO: REUTERS 2014 Lok Sabha election. new election symbol, came into existence a year later. The first sign that a group within the undivided CPI The CPI(M) will mark its 50 years in October-November may break away to form a separate party was seen 50 that coincides with the Seventh Party Congress in years ago on April 11, 1964. The split was formalised in Kolkata’s Thyagaraja Hall in 1964, said party general October-November of that year, and the party, with its secretary . HOW THEY PARTED WAYS April 11, 1964: Thirty-two party faced because of its congress. The breakaway faction members of the undivided “revisionist policies”. Muzaffar claims to have the support of 1.04 walk out Ahmad, a founding member of lakh of undivided party’s 1.76 lakh of its National Council meeting in CPI, asks 146 delegates who members and therefore Delhi to protest against the attended to take an oath to form represented the real party. It “revisionist policies” of General the “real communist party”. The elected P Sundarayya as general Secretary S A Dange and his convention decides to hold the secretary. followers, particularly the failure CPI's Seventh Congress in October March 1965: in his to have “class struggle” as its main in the same year. memoirs So Far I Can Remember policy. Dange followers had an October 31-November 7: The stated the breakaway party overwhelming majority in the Seventh Congress of the CPI, by the decided on the eve of March 1965 National Council. breakaway faction, is held in Assembly elections in Kerala that it July 7-11, 1964: The breakaway Kolkata, while Dange’s group would name itself the Communist faction, still calling itself the CPI, holds a parallel congress in Party of India (Marxist). “This was organises Tenali convention in Mumbai. The Congress done for the purpose of the Andhra Pradesh by hoisting the government of P C Sen in Bengal election symbol. Since then, our original party flag. The convention arrested many of the breakaway party has been known by this is held to analyse the crisis the group’s leaders days before the name,” Basu wrote.

General secretaries: Only two of the 32 who broke away from the undivided P Sundarayya elected in seventh CPI are alive: V S Achuthanandan and N Sankaraiah. (1964), eighth (1968) and ninth The rest were EMS Namboodiripad, P Sundarayya, (1972) Congress; EMS N Prasada Rao, T Nagi Reddy, M Hanumantha Rao, Namboodiripad in 10th (1978), Guntur Bapanayya, Venkateswara Rao, Promode 11th (1982), 12th (1985) and 13th Dasgupta, Hare Krishna Konar, Saroj Mukherjee, (1989) Congress; Harkishen Muzaffar Ahmad, Abdul Halim, A K Gopalan, Singh Surjeet in 14th (1992), 15th E K Nayanar, Imbichi Bava, CH Kanaran, A V Kunhabu, (1995), 16th (1998), 17th (2002), M R Venkataraman, P Ramani, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, 18th (2005) and Prakash Jagjit Singh Lyalpuri, Dalip Singh Tapiala, Bagh Singh, Karat in 19th (2008) and Prakash Karat Mohan Punamia, Shivkumar Mishra, R N Upadhyaya, 20th (2012) Congress. R P Saraf, Jyoti Basu, B T Ranadive and P Ramamurthi.

of widespread rigging. He was bringing about land reforms, but CPI(M) CHIEF MINISTERS expelled from the party in the also for Bengal’s industrial decline. early 1990s. Basu could have been the prime KERALA V S Achuthanandan (2006-2011) minister but for the party’s Central EMS Namboodiripad V S, along with N Sankaraiah, are the (1993 to 1998) Committee voting against joining (1957-59, 1967-69) only two surviving members of the Deb declined to contest the 1998 the United Front government of EMS was one of the tallest leaders of 32 who broke away from CPI’s election on health grounds. 1996. He later termed it a the communist National Council in 1964. He started “historic blunder”. life as a daily wage labourer. He has (1998 to movement and the an exemplary reputation as an present) first democratically (2000 to 2011) honest politician. He was even Sarkar and his wife elected communist Bhattacharjee, better known for his removed from the party politburo in have a lifestyle so chief minister of interest in arts and letters, was 2009 due to infighting. Most political simple that it would India. The Centre somewhat a surprise observers agree Achuthanandan put even many recent invoked President’s Rule choice as Basu’s could have returned to power in 2011 claimants to the tag of for the first time in 1959 in Kerala to successor. He but for the faction-ridden Kerala honest politicians to shame. The dismiss the Namboodiripad-led tried to revive unit and the central leadership who couple don’t have a car or a house to government. Bengal’s industrial didn’t support him enough. their names. E K Nayanar landscape, but TRIPURA incidents like Singur and (1980-81, 1987-91, 1996-2001) Jyoti Basu (1977 to 2000) Nayanar holds the record as the (1978 to 1988) eventually led to the Left losing A former journalist credited with The longest-serving power in Bengal after an longest serving CM of Kerala. His CM in the history of government is credited with running a clean government that was uninterrupted 34-years at Writers’ dismissed by the Centre in 1988. The India. The Basu-led Building. Bhattacharjee did lead the launching the concept of People’s government is Planning Commission in 1996. 1988 Assembly elections that Left to its highest ever tally in the followed were marred by allegations credited with Bengal Assembly in 2006.