“This is virtually an economic blockade” on Kerala: CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby

MA Baby, the current general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), faces the uphill task of ensuring his party wins an unprecedented third consecutive term in Kerala’s assembly elections this year. Over the past decade, the Left Democratic Front government, led by the CPI(M)’s Pinarayi Vijayan, has taken a path very different from his communist predecessors. In the April 2026 cover story of The Caravan, senior staff writer Nileena MS reported on how his government, while pushing welfare, it has also sustained neoliberal restructuring of government policies, especially public utilities. It has no qualms pushing for the commodification of natural resources such as water, working with oligarchs like Gautam Adani or driving major infrastructure projects that economists argue bring little revenue to the state’s own citizenry. These projects extract a deep ecological and human cost, often devastating pristine hills and forests, and are met with little criticism. The government’s track record on workers’ rights has been equally grim. The party has also become increasingly centralised under Vijayan’s watch and has weakened its secular ideals, with several senior party leaders making Islamophobic comments in the past few years.

This interview with Baby was part of Nileena’s reporting for the cover story, which traced the ideological deviation of the CPI(M), criticised by opponents and sympathisers alike. Baby dismissed the concerns, argued that the party is on the right track and said that its development agenda and Vijayan’s leadership—which helped the LDF in the previous election—will lead it to victory again. He also explained how the Bharatiya Janata Party-led union government has cornered the state and highlighted the LDF government’s welfare achievements despite what he described as an “economic blockade.”

How do you look at the role of Left parties, including the CPI(M), in the current Indian political situation?

​The distinctive role of the Left parties in the national political scenario emerges from its secular politics and, importantly, its socialist economics. Communal and extremist forces of all hues need to be exposed and opposed. The Hindutva forces create insecurity among minority communities. In the name of opposing the Hindutva forces, fundamentalist organisations emerge among minority communities too. While not equating them both, the fact that both pose serious threats to India’s diversities and our society’s inclusive nature needs to be stressed.