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Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is a Communist party in India. The party emerged from a split from the Communist Party of India in 1964.[1] The CPI(M) was formed at the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of India held in Calcutta from 31 October to 7 November 1964. The power of CPI(M) is concentrated in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. At present in 2016, CPI(M) is leading the state governments in Tripura and Kerala. It also leads the Left Front in West Bengal.
History
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) emerged from a division within the Communist Party of India (CPI), which was formed on 26 December 1925. The CPI had experienced a period of upsurge during the years following the Second World War. The CPI led armed rebellions in Telangana, Tripura, and Kerala. However, it soon abandoned the strategy of armed revolution in favor of working within the parliamentary framework. In 1950, B. T. Ranadive, the CPI general secretary and a prominent representative of the radical sector inside the party, was demoted on grounds of left-adventurism.[2]
Under the government of the Indian National Congress party of Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India developed close relations and a strategic partnership with the Soviet Union. The Soviet government consequently wished that the Indian communists moderate their criticism towards the Indian state and assume a supportive role towards the Congress governments. However, large sections of the CPI claimed that India remained a semi-feudal country and that class struggle could not be put on the back-burner for the sake of guarding the interests of Soviet trade and foreign policy.[citation needed] Moreover, the Indian National Congress appeared to be generally hostile towards political competition. In 1959 the central government intervened to impose President's Rule in Kerala, toppling the E.M.S. Namboodiripad cabinet (the sole non-Congress state government in the country).[3]
Party organisation
CPI(M) currently has three MPs in Lok Sabha. CPI(M)'s highest tally was in 2004 when it got 5.66% of votes polled in and it had 43 MPs. It won 42.31% on an average in the 69 seats it contested. It supported the new Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, but without becoming a part of it. On 9 July 2008 it formally withdrew support from the UPA government explaining this by differences about the Indo-US nuclear deal and the IAEA Safeguards Agreement in particular.[4]
