A draft resolution from the CPI(M) 24th party congress has sparked controversy by shifting rhetoric on the Modi government, describing it as a "Hindutva-corporate regime" with "neo-fascist characteristics," not explicitly "fascist." This change has confused rank-and-file workers
Published Feb 27, 2025 | 5:34 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 27, 2025 | 5:34 PM
‘Neo-fascist characteristics’ in Modi govt: CPI(M) draft resolution split hairs
Synopsis: It is still a statement in draft form, but it gained a great deal of attention since it appeared to tone down the rhetoric and pay greater heed to semantics. However, party workers are having trouble accepting the more nuanced statement
A draft political resolution of the 24th party congress of the CPI(M) has become controversial, as it appears to diverge from past statements. For years, the CPI(M) termed the BJP government under Narendra Modi as “fascist” or “neo-fascist.”
Now, in 2025, the draft, approved by the central committee of the party ahead of its Madurai congress from 2-6 April reads: “The Modi government’s push to impose a reactionary Hindutva agenda and the authoritarian drive to suppress the opposition and democracy demonstrates neo-fascist characteristics.”
The sudden rhetorical shift has left the rank and file bewildered.
In a clarificatory note in the official Malayalam mouthpiece of the party, Chintha, the party explains that the Modi government is not “fascist or neo-fascist” but instead a “Hindutva-corporate overbearing regime” displaying “neo-fascist characteristics”.
The political resolution is still in draft stage and will need to be circulated to state units and ratified at the party congress; even so, workers at the grassroots are left with a few questions.
Party workers who spent years reinforcing the “fascist BJP” narrative in public meetings see this move as a sudden ideological retreat.
An area committee member from the state capital told South First: “For years, we called the BJP fascist. We used the phrase in every speech, every campaign, every debate. Now, all of a sudden, we are told that the BJP is not fascist. It just has ‘neo-fascist characteristics.’ What does that even mean? If it is not fascist, then what is it?”
Although this is a matter of semantics, there is much riding on the change in terminology.
The party’s critique of the Modi regime has been consistently labelling the Union government’s terms in office as a period of consolidation of right-wing, communal, and authoritarian forces with neo-fascist traits.
A CPI(M) leader from Kollam spoke of the embarrassment many cadres feel.
“We have been drilling the ‘BJP is fascist’ rhetoric into the minds of the people. Now, our opponents — both Congress and BJP — are mocking us; they ask if we were lying all this while. How do we respond?”
A senior district-level leader said, “We built a mass resistance narrative by branding Modi as a fascist. We told people that India is under fascist rule. Now, if we say something different, won’t people question our own consistency?”
CPI(M) Central Committee member A K Balan in a recent statement said the party has never labelled the BJP-led government at the Centre “fascist.” That sparked fresh debate, as remarks by senior party leaders suggest otherwise.
Balan clarified the CPI(M)’s position: “Our party has never evaluated the BJP government as a fascist regime. We have never said fascism has arrived. If fascism reaches our country, its political structure will change. We don’t reckon that we have reached such a situation. It is the view of the CPI and the CPI(ML) that fascism has arrived in the country.”
However, statements made by top CPI(M) leaders over the years contradict this claim.
In 2016, then party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, “If a parallel were to be drawn of the present government with history, the present regime resembles (Adolf) Hitler’s fascism model.”
He also claimed that the Modi government was openly advancing the fascist agenda of the RSS.
In the same year, Yechury subtly countered his predecessor Prakash Karat’s argument; Karat had termed the Modi government “right-wing authoritarian” rather than fascist, invoking legendary communist Georgi Dimitrov, whose work and life was an engagement with how best to oppose the large-scale destruction unleashed by fascism.
Dimitrov warned that failing to resist reactionary measures could eventually lead to the victory of fascism.
Ironically, Balan, while defending the current party line, also quoted Dimitrov, but argued that the BJP regime does not qualify as a fascist or neo-fascist government.
While CPI(M)’s leadership now appears cautious in branding the BJP as fascist, its state-level leaders have been far less restrained in the past.
In 2023, Kerala CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan, commenting on the Uniform Civil Code issue, called the BJP a “fascist force”.
During the 2024 election campaign, he declared, “The Left aims to defeat the BJP-led fascist government at the Centre and bring a secular, democratic government.”
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in 2023, slammed the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha, stating that “suppressing dissent by force is a fascist method.”
In 2017, the LDF-led Kerala government and the Congress-led opposition UDF jointly denounced the Centre’s ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter, calling it a “fascist move.”
In the same year, Yechury, speaking at a CPI(M)-organised Save Constitution Patriot Convention in Mysuru, accused the BJP of systematically promoting the RSS’ fascist agenda.
With the 2024 general elections reinforcing BJP’s dominance and the Left struggling to remain politically relevant, the party may be opting for a more nuanced stance rather than outright ideological confrontation.
Some within the party believe this change is meant to accommodate potential alliances with other anti-BJP forces that may not fully endorse the ‘fascist’ label.
This subtle repositioning, however, could rile committed cadres who see the BJP as an existential threat.
However, there are also dangers in using the word “fascist” loosely – its origin a century ago was from the Italian “fascio”, or bundle.
Mussolini is credited with having first used the word to denote his movement that wrested power in 1922. Fascists led by Mussolini used the word to unite the Italian people, who feared the spread of Communism after the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Mussolini’s movement prized the nation above all else, controlled by an autocratic ruler. Anyone who threatened national unity was an enemy, and to be destroyed.
PM Modi with his “One Nation, One Election” and other slogans evokes what Mussolini represented, but is constrained by India’s Constitution, drafted by her freedom fighters.
(Edited by Rosamma Thomas)
