The Indian Left: Never Ruled, But Writing The Rules

Tides turn so fiercely in Indian politics that even the most seasoned political observers cannot prepare for them. The Tsunami called NDA has all but obliterated the opposition in Bihar. 

 Women of Bihar helped the incumbents return to power. Women broke voting records, surpassing men in the state, and, with their support, the NDA secured a majority, leaving the opposition with only 35 of 243 seats. Critics swiftly attacked the ₹10,000 Jeevika Yojna transfer to the women’s bank accounts directly on the eve of polling, arguing it carried the self-described socialist leader Nitish Kumar back to the throne to swear in as Bihar’s chief minister for the 10th time.

 Some called it bribery, some called it vote bank politics, while others called it names much meaner – but stripped of these monikers and alleged agendas, it is, at the end, just welfare and social justice.  

And who knows welfare and social justice better than the Left? During the first convention of the then Congress Socialist Party (CSP) – a sub-division of Congress led by Socialists – their resolution in 1934 had certain goals that have stood the test of time and differing ideologies to impact Indian politics even today. 

Journalist Qurban Ali says, “The dream of social, economic, and political justice is far away even now. What socialists and communists did, however, was to compel the Congress, the BJP and other governments over the years to ensure there was a voice for the voiceless with policies and schemes.”

He writes in his book a quote from Jayaprakash Narayan, who was then the founding secretary of CSP, “If the ultimate objective is to make the masses politically and economically free, to make them prosperous and happy, to free them from all manner of exploitation, to give them an unfettered opportunity for development, then, Socialism becomes a goal to which one must irresistibly be drawn.” 

 At its foundation, the CSP Constitution promised to abolish discrimination based on gender, caste, and religion – this goal is now a right under the Indian Constitution. Other points, like redistributing land to peasants, never saw the light of day. Ali says, “Initially, these were very radical programmes, even Gandhi didn’t agree with them fully when India got independence. Especially about no private property and everything being nationalised, which the Communists and Socialists wanted.”

Power Of The Powerless Left

 Indeed, the Left never had real power at the centre. Bengal, Tripura, and Kerala stand as exceptions, and the violent insurrections of Maoists, Naxals carved darker paths. And yet, across the country, schemes bloom under names like Ladki Bahin (Maharashtra), Jeevika Didi (Bihar), Anbu Karangal (Tamil Nadu), and more. Most are crafted by governments that stand staunchly against even the remotest Leftist thought and are quick to label activism as ‘urban Naxalism’. Yet the philosophy echoes socialist ideals that once seemed too radical for the young republic. From Maharashtra to Jharkhand, welfare schemes of money transfer – especially to women – have quickly become a tool to erase any anti-incumbency sentiments. 

 Before welfare became a political strategy, it was part of the nation’s self-understanding. 

 Twenty years before his emphatic ‘stroke of the midnight hour’ speech to declare India’s freedom, a younger Jawaharlal Nehru visited the Soviet Union with his father and was immediately enamoured by the ‘structure’ he saw there. 

 Nehru saw Socialism as the solution for India after independence. A country teeming with poverty and misery – attributed to the brutalities of the British colonial Raj – would have to ensure food and rights for its newly ‘free’ citizens. 

 Nehruvian socialism did not seek revolution, but dignity. “From the very beginning, we had the 5-year plans, in a big way drawn from the Soviet plans. Even the issue of addressing hunger, food security and others,” says Vijoo Krishnan, politburo member of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the general secretary of All India Kisan Sabha, adding, “Mrs [Indira] Gandhi then brings socialism and secularism into the constitution during the Emergency, then nationalisation of banks, roti kadpa makaan (food, clothing, housing) - these are Left demands.” He adds how even cinema of that era reflected socialist values. Whether it was Rajesh Khanna’s Namak Haram or Amitabh Bachchan’s Kaala Patthar – all put labour rights and capitalist exploitation at the front and centre of the movie’s plot.

Coming back to the 1940s, Left stayed out of the Constituent Assembly, viewing its framework as inadequate for real equality. Communists had even once dismissed the CSP as “fascist,” aligning only briefly before splitting again after Gandhi’s assassination. Yet by the time of India’s first election, the Communist Party of India emerged as the largest Opposition, able to shape governance.

1957: Kerala’s Democratic Miracle

India startled the world when Kerala elected the first democratically chosen Communist government in 1957. The global world order, steeped in Cold War anxieties, had known communists only as revolutionaries and dictators, not elected leaders. Within days, tenant protections, land reforms, and free access to education and healthcare reshaped society.

Krishnan stresses that this new government placed dignity above everything. Congress, uneasy yet influenced, later adopted similar welfare measures elsewhere, like free healthcare and education.

The Left carved more niches in South India. Periyar’s Self-Respect movement saturated Tamil Nadu with ideas of equality, rationalism, and dignity. When the DMK won in 1967, these ideas became the basis of governance. Welfare became not a gesture but a principle.

 Land, Inequality, And The Persistent Fear Of Redistribution

Land remained India’s most explosive site of injustice. Landlords received compensation after independence; the landless remained landless. Communist groups demanded radical change, such as land for the tiller, no compensation for landlords. Most demands were rejected, but Kumarappa's report would change it all.

To this day, redistribution fears continue even as Communist governments have not done that. During the 2024 Lok Sabha campaign, the Prime Minister warned that Congress would confiscate “half your assets”—symbolised through the now-famous “two buffaloes” remark. The fears echoed Cold War anti-communist rhetoric more than the present reality. Congress today is far from socialist; its economic stance is decidedly liberal.

Welfare As Vote Bank Vs Welfare As Justice

Despite attacking freebies, the Centre continued introducing them. CPI-ML’s P K Chaudhary says, “Modiji speaks against freebies but uses them to buy votes. We (CPI) struggled for space; they bought it in the garb of welfare.”

He points to petitions in 2024 seeking to delete “socialist” and “secular” from the Constitution, petitions the Supreme Court dismissed. Opposition parties blamed the BJP, though officially, they were individual petitions.

Left scholars lament that welfare—once imagined as justice—has been reduced to transactions. Ali praises the Jyoti Basu government in Bengal for land reforms that influenced states beyond Bengal. He recounts the Mandal Commission’s impact on reservation—“a socialist idea that reconstructed society.” But he believes that over the past two to three decades, welfare has turned into a bargaining chip. He blames Jayalalithaa, Karunanidhi, and Naveen Patnaik for turning welfare into systemic dependency, not empowerment. “Freebies helped Patnaik be chief minister for 20+ years,” he says.

Yet he also notes the paradox. “From 2014, the BJP boasts of free ration for 80 crore people. That’s socialist justice. But the tragedy is justice reduced to a vote bank.”

Between Elections, The Left Remains In Governance

Even without electoral dominance, the Left shaped India’s governance DNA. Krishnan recalls Kerala’s wartime measures like opening landlords’ granaries to create fair-price shops. Peasant movements pushed the Kumarappa Report and the principle of “land for the tiller.” Modern landmarks such as the NREGA, Forest Rights Act, and Right to Information carry the imprint of Left struggles and advocacy, according to Krishnan.

When asked whether these should simply be considered the duties of any democratic state, Krishnan distinguishes, “Equality versus charity. Others treat welfare as handouts. The Left treats it as rights.”

He cites Kerala’s ₹2,000 monthly pension for 64 lakh people, seen not as generosity but entitlement, an awareness shaped by decades of political education.

The Right Also Carries The Left’s Tools

Labour unions—once symbols of communist mobilisation—are now accepted across ideologies. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), affiliated with the RSS, is one of the country’s largest labour organisations.

Yet Pawan Kumar of BMS rejects any claim of Left influence. “If the Left influenced India, it wouldn’t be reduced to Kerala and Bengal. Welfare is a Hindu ideal, ‘sarve bhavantu sukhinah’. What is caste? It was once a trade union of professions. Minimum wages and bonuses existed in our old texts. Welfare is our inheritance, not communism.”

 Two Indias

India drifts between two emotional currents. One sees welfare as essential to survival; the other sees it as a burden on taxpayers and the economy. Those who have never had to skip a meal often denounce welfare as laziness. Meanwhile, a woman in East Champaran, who used her ₹10,000 transfer to start a chai-samosa stall, sees the scheme as divine intervention and the Nitish-Modi duo as God-like figures.

Both groups, however, tend to see socialism as an enemy—proof of how deeply the word has been misinterpreted.

Yet the echoes of early socialist arguments remain visible: remove poverty, ensure dignity, provide food and shelter. Parties like RJD in Bihar and JMM in Jharkhand emerged as regional socialist uprisings—not Soviet in orientation, but rooted in caste realities ignored by the older Left. Communists and socialists of Congress, CPI, etc., looked only at class, remaining blind to caste. Bihar and Jharkhand responded by turning caste into a grammar of justice.

A Century Of Movements

Across a century—from CSP socialists to communists, from Dravidian thinkers to modern welfare strategists—the Indian state absorbed ideas that often originated at the margins. Election seasons now arrive with promises and incentives. Some call them bribes; some call them vote-bank schemes. Critics call them distortions of ideals.

But beneath every argument lies a quieter fact. Long before welfare became a political transaction, the Left imagined it, fought for it, and convinced India it was necessary.

The Left rarely wins. It may never rule the Centre. But the grammar of modern governance with fundamental rights across caste, gender, and religious lines, pensions, land debates, labour protections, public distribution, food security retains the residue of its early dreams. Ideas that once lived in manifestos of a newly independent India now inhabit ministries and influence policies. What was once too radical is now routine.

There is silent poetry in that. The power of the powerless Left does not lie in seats won but in policies written. It guides the hands that once brushed it aside, shaping the margins until the margins become the mainstream. The Left may never govern India, but it continues, in countless quiet ways, to shape it.