Contrast the present position of the Left with its standing soon after Independence. After the first parliamentary elections in 1952, the newly constituted Lok Sabha had the Communist Party of India (CPI) as the main Opposition and not the Krishak Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP), as was widely anticipated. Not only that, one CPI leader, Ravi Narayan Reddy, hailing from Telangana, secured the largest number of votes in India (more than the then PM, Jawaharlal Nehru). That was because the people of Telangana stood solidly behind the Communists despite their somersaults. Why? Because CPI workers and leaders were held in high public esteem due to their selfless sacrifice and dedicated service to the cause of the common people, particularly during the struggle against Nizam’s misrule. This was true also in West Bengal, which had witnessed the historic Tebhaga struggle of peasants. In Kerala, the memorable Vayalar-Punnapra movement brought the Communists so close to the masses that in 1957, with its dramatic assumption of power in Kerala through the battle of the ballot, the CPI became the first Communist party in the whole world to win provincial elections and form government without having to resort to armed struggle.