The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has said it does not believe the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are fascist and it has provided ammunition to the likes of Amit Malviya to train their guns at Opposition unity.
The CPM in its draft resolution released in Kolkata on February 3 refused to brand the BJP and RSS as fascist.
“We have stated that the present political set-up under the BJP-RSS is a Hindutva-corporate authoritarian regime which displays neo-fascistic characteristics,” said the CPM resolution. “We are not saying that the Modi government is a fascist or neo-fascist government. Nor are we characterising the Indian State as a neo-fascist State.”
Malviya, the BJP’s social media head, latched onto the document Tuesday and thew in BJP talking points – like blaming billionaire currency speculator George Soros – into the mix.
“George Soros tutored Rahul Gandhi to brand Prime Minister Modi as a dictator and call his regime fascist. He did so throughout the 2024 Lok Sabha election but lost. Now, CPI-M, a member of the I.N.D.I. Alliance, in its draft resolution for the 24th Party Congress, refuses to characterize the BJP and RSS as ‘fascist organizations.’ The Congress cabal is now having a meltdown as several of its workers and trolls have been rendered jobless,” Malviya wrote on his X (Twitter) handle.
The CPM resolution has led to a political debate in Kerala, the only state where the Communists are in government.
Veteran Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that the CPM was trying to ensure BJP support for the Assembly polls in 2026.
“Given that the party has no political influence elsewhere in India, it is now attempting to ensure BJP support for the next election through this draft resolution,” he was quoted as saying.
Even before the previous Kerala Assembly election, CPM leader Prakash Karat had expressed this view – that the Modi government cannot be branded fascist – while another party bigwig, the late Sitaram Yechury, had always opposed it.
“Karat’s stance suggests an underlying understanding between the CPI-M and BJP,” Chennithala said. “At this rate, when will the CPI-M declare the RSS a progressive movement? We must also note that the Kerala chief minister has never criticised the BJP or Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
In 2016, two years into the Modi government, Karat had written in an opinion piece in The Indian Express that the Modi government was authoritarian and not fascist.
“In India today, neither has fascism been established, nor are the conditions present — in political, economic and class terms – for a fascist regime to be established,” Karat had written.
Within days, Yechury took an opposite view. The CPM secretary said that the prevailing political situation in India was “chillingly reminiscent” of what was seen in Europe in the 1930s and if the situation worsens, “it can lead up” to fascism.
Yechury died on September 12 last year. Karat is the interim leader of the CPM in the absence of a new secretary.