Communism in Kerala

Monument in Kerala backwaters, India.

The Indian state of Kerala has a strong presence of communist politics. Today, the two largest communist parties in Kerala politics are the CPIM and the CPI, which, together with other left-wing parties, form the ruling LDF alliance.

In addition to Kerala, the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura have had multiple democratically-elected Marxist governments, with legislation being debated by regular multiparty electoral processes. The communism of Kerala has provided Indian communist stalwarts such as M. N. Govindan Nair, C. Achutha Menon, K. Damodaran, T. V. Thomas, N. E. Balaram, E. M. S. Namboodiripad, A. K. Gopalan, K. R. Gouri Amma, P. K. Vasudevan Nair and C. K. Chandrappan.

The communist-majority Left Democratic Front is one of the two major political coalitions in Kerala, alongside the United Democratic Front. The alliances have alternatively been in power for the last four decades until 2021, where the Left Democratic Front was re-elected as the ruling party for the first time. The coalition is led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and also comprises the Communist Party of India, the Janata Dal (Secular), the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), the Indian National League, the Kerala Congress (Anti-merger Group), and the Indian National Congress (Socialist).


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