Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] national general secretary M.A. Baby has claimed that the “deliberate creation of a false perception” against Left democratic forces among the masses had played a key role in the reverses suffered by the party in Keralam in recent times.

Opening a three-day extended State committee meeting of the CPI(M) on Sunday (September 13, 2026) morning, he also admitted that the Left should have been more alert in responding to the construction of this false perception. “We should have exposed this false narrative and defeated it, but we did not do it. There were some other lapses as well on our part. We need to correct these mistakes, regain the trust of the people and march forward,” Mr. Baby said.

The CPI(M) leader pointed out that regressive elements had been resorting to defaming the Communist forces for long. Recalling the ‘Liberation Struggle’, a popular agitation in the 1958-59 period supported by the Congress and other parties against the first democratically elected Communist government led by E.M.S. Namboodiripad in Keralam, Mr. Baby said it was actually a movement against the progressive steps piloted by the State.

“The construction of such false perceptions have continued since then. Though the Communist government was undemocratically dismissed by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1959, the vote share of the undivided Communist Party of India went up by four percentage points in the 1960 election. That shows how our policies influenced the people. However, because of the consolidation of anti-Left and right-wing forces, we could not come to power then,” he said.

Mr. Baby claimed that a similar situation happened in Keralam in 2026 too. “The creation of false perceptions against the CPI(M) and its leaders began after the party-led front came back to power in the 2021 Assembly polls. One among them is that we have reached a deal with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party. That allegation has influenced a large number of people. We need to examine where we have made mistakes in countering such campaigns,” he said.

The CPI(M) leader said that the party cadre should engage in what he called criticism of others and of themselves. “Most of our prominent leaders, including some of those who are at the helm now, have gone through a rectification exercise by the party. We have a time-tested method for corrective steps,” he added.

The three-day conference is being held against the backdrop of the electoral reverses suffered by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front in Keralam. The Central Committee of the party had earlier come out with a review report on the election performance. Based on it, the State committee has also prepared a set of guidelines to be followed by the cadre for the revival of party’s fortunes.

The participants at the conference, who also include district secretariat members of the party from across the State and leaders of its class and mass organisations, will discuss that document presented by M.V. Govindan on Sunday (September 13). The discussions will continue on Monday (September 14, 2026).

According to party sources, the State committee will prepare another report based on the outcome of the deliberations on September 15.

Earlier, senior party leader Paloli Mohammed Kutty raised the party flag. At least nine Polit Bureau members, including Mr. Baby, Mr. Govindan, and Opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan are attending the meeting.

The long arm of the law has caught up with Savad, the first accused in the infamous hand-chopping case, who went into hiding for sixteen years after the incident.

Charges were framed against him at the special court for trying the offences booked by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Kochi last week.

The prosecution’s case is that Savad, in continuation of the conspiracy hatched with the other accused in the case, attacked T.J. Joseph, a professor at Newman’s College, Thodupuzha, and chopped off his right palm on July 4, 2010, after reportedly being perturbed by the inclusion of some alleged blasphemous references in the Malayalam question paper set by Mr. Joseph for an internal examination of the B.Com. degree held on March 23, 2010.

Savad, who was reportedly an active member of the Popular Front of India (PFI), inflicted several strikes on Prof. Joseph with an axe. According to the NIA, the severed palm was thrown into a nearby compound.

The charges framed against him include the commission of a terrorist act, being a member of a terrorist gang and conspiring to commit a terrorist act as defined under the Unauthorised Activities (Prevention) Act. He has also been charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting with armed and deadly weapons, wrongfully entrainment, committing mischief, causing hurt and grievous hurt with a dangerous weapon. Additionally, the charges of threatening, destruction of evidence, promoting enmity between religious groups, attempt to commit murder and possession and use of explosives were also slapped against him.

Savad, who went into hiding for 14 years after the attack was arrested on January 10, 2024 from Beram, Mattannur, Kannur, where he was reportedly residing under the pseudo name Shajahan.The accused, according to the NIA, evaded arrest by taking shelter in various locations in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The investigation agency had issued non-bailable warrants and Look Out Circulars (LOCs) against him and announced a reward of ₹10 lakh for helping in his arrest.

The NIA, which took over the investigation in April 2011, had arraigned 55 persons as accused in the case. The court had convicted 19 persons and let off 24 others in the case. A few of the accused are still at large.

C. Shafeer of Kannur, who was arrested for harbouring Savad, too was charged under the UAPA.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (March 29, 2026) intensified the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)’s campaign for the April 9 Kerala Assembly election with a sharp attack on both the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF). Alleging that the two fronts had alternated in power for decades while “looting” the State through corruption and misgovernance, Mr. Modi said their politics had deprived the people of Kerala of resources, opportunities and growth.

Assembly Elections LIVE

Positioning the BJP-led NDA as a decisive alternative, the Prime Minister said that an NDA government would advance the vision of a “Viksit Kerala,” promising faster development and measures to curb the outward migration of educated youth by creating opportunities within the State. “It is Modi’s guarantee to you. The NDA’s guarantee is Modi’s guarantee,” he said while addressing a rally of all 12 NDA candidates from Palakkad district. A large crowd gathered at Fort Grounds at 2 p.m., braving the intense summer heat to attend the event.

The Prime Minister alleged that both the UDF and the LDF were misleading the public by labelling each other the BJP’s B-team. “That is an inadvertent admission by both fronts that the BJP is the real A-team in Kerala,” he said.

He said that for decades, Kerala had been trapped between the fronts that alternated in power without delivering progress. “If one was communal, the other was overly communal; if one was corrupt, the other was excessively corrupt. Both UDF and LDF have cheated the public by relying on vote-bank politics,” he said.

The Prime Minister accused the LDF government of plunging Kerala into a debt of ₹5 lakh crore. “Kerala’s debt has tripled in the last 10 years, with the money going into the pockets of the LDF,” he said. If the NDA comes to power, we will recover the funds and use them for the welfare of the public, Mr. Modi said.

He said both the Congress and the Left shared a long history of misgovernance, pointing to the Left’s record in Bengal and Tripura and the Congress’s performance nationwide. He stressed the BJP’s focus on a women-led development model, highlighting initiatives across several sectors, including health, and citing the passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam law. “Under the NDA, girls from disadvantaged backgrounds will be empowered to achieve new heights,” he said, contrasting this with Congress leaders, whom he described as obstacles to women’s progress and safety.

Acknowledging the hard work of Palakkad’s paddy farmers, Mr. Modi said that only the BJP can provide effective support to the farming community. “Instead of helping, the State government is trapping farmers in debt,” he said, adding that an NDA government in Kerala would end their woes, a promise he called “Modi’s guarantee”.

He promised to expose the corruption involving the LDF and the UDF if the BJP comes to power in Kerala. “Both of them are engaged in corruption and looting, but they never expose each other. The BJP will ensure justice for the people by investigating and revealing the LDF-UDF misdeeds,” he said.