T he 2024 Lok Sabha election results in Kerala should ring the alarm bells for the Left. Not just because the BJP won a historic first seat, but also because the NDA registered a 3.57%-point increase in vote share to 19.
21%; and the BJP crossed 30% of the vote share in three Lok Sabha constituencies (from one in 2019), came first in 11 Assembly segments (from one in 2019), and second in nine segments (from seven in 2019). Some of this was at the expense of the Left strongholds. Nevertheless, this moment is not a mere electoral setback occasioned by anti-incumbency, public finance troubles of the CPI(M)-led government, and allegations of corruption against it.
The communist movement in Kerala is one of the most important mobilisations of the peasant and the working classes in the Global South. Its success was in how it tried to address together a variety of exclusions based on class, caste, and linguistic identities. This was achieved through struggles and entrenchment in the arena outside elections: in civil society and the cultural sphere.
This hegemony of the Left “common sense” in Kerala society is what is being challenged with the rise of Hindutva. This rise has been foretold in the non-electoral arena — for example, the fact that Kerala has had among the highest numbers of RSS shakhas in India. This has only accentuated in the recent years with their heightened activities around temples and festivals.
Hindu nationalism, has followed, ironically, the Italian Marxist.
