Modi govt not quite ‘fascist’ yet, says CPI(M) draft resolution

In 2018 the CPI(M)’s political resolution at the 22^nd party congress in Hyderabad stated that the BJP government under Modi was showing fascist tendencies. Four years later in 2022, at the 23^rd party congress in Kannur the resolution held that the government was implementing the fascist agenda of the RSS.

Therefore, the draft political resolution for the 24^th party congress in Madurai slated for April, 2025, has stoked a political controversy by using the term ‘neo-fascism’, not fascism. The draft, approved by the central committee in its meeting in Kolkata in January, reds, “The Modi government’s push to impose a reactionary Hindutva agenda and the authoritarian drive to suppress the opposition and democracy demonstrates neo-fascist characteristics”.

To add to the confusion the CPI(M)’s ideological mouthpiece in Malyalam Chintha has come out with a clarificatory note in its latest issue this week. “The present political system under BJP-RSS is a Hindutva-Corporate overbearing regime which exhibits neo-fascist characteristics…we do not say that the Modi government is fascist or neo-fascist. We do not depict the Indian government as a neo-fascist regime”.

Semantics is important for communist parties and the draft resolution would have taken several hours of deliberation to finalise. Each word is carefully discussed and finalised. Therefore, the departure from the past did not go unnoticed. The clarificatory note in the party mouthpiece made it worse, with most people, including party members, asking why the party has deviated from the past. While the resolution admits that the government is implementing the fascist agenda of the RSS, does it make sense to say that the government is not fascist, questioned many in party circles.

While the draft has been circulated to its state units and will have to be ratified by the party congress in April, it has generated a heated debate in Kerala’s political circles and beyond. Some political observers concluded that the departure signals a more pragmatic approach, possibly looking at broader political alliances which an outright "neo-fascist" characterisation might complicate. Others point to the nuanced view that while the BJP and RSS exhibit authoritarian tendencies, CPI(M) does not see the Indian state itself as structurally transformed into a fascist entity.

The CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam reacted by saying, “fascist ideology teaches how religion and faith can be used for political gain and the BJP government is implementing these in practice. The party claimed to be bewildered by the CPI(M)’s haste in cushioning the Modi government. Leader of Opposition in the Kerala assembly V.D. Satheesan accused CPI(M) of aligning with the Sangh Parivar, claiming that its refusal to label the Modi government as "fascist" reflected a softening stance toward the BJP.

Alleging that CPI(M) central committee leaders from Kerala had taken the lead to draft the resolution, state Congress leaders said that the fresh ‘discovery’ by the CPI(M) did not come as a surprise. The CP(M) in Kerala, they alleged, had always compromised with fascism and the RSS. Its ‘secret understanding’ in the state with the BJP, they said, was common knowledge. By softening its stand on the Modi government and the RSS, the party was hoping to win over some of the traditional Left voters who had been moving towards the BJP in the past few elections, to return to its fold.

With PTI inputs