Analysis | Pinarayi, who else to blame for CPM’s ‘self-harm’ therapy

This time, when it went to polls, the CPM had altered its ideological DNA, suffered a personality disorder that crossed into narcissism and was utterly dismissive of the troubles these behavioural issues were inflicting on its internal machinery. The result was self-slaughter.

The CPM contested the same number of seats as last time: 75 (excluding Independents). But this time there was a near four per cent swing against the most dominant party in Kerala's history, its vote share dropping to 21.77 from 25.38 per cent. And most of the damage was done in areas considered the CPM's natural habitats: Kannur, Kozhikode, Idukki, Pathanamthitta and Kollam.

In 2021, when the LDF returned to power with 99 seats, it was considered the only secular formation in the fray. Not just the BJP, the UDF also had then mistook the hurt felt by the Hindu faithful after the 2018 Sabarimala verdict as a kind of congenital bigotry.

And to mobilise Hindus, both the BJP and the Congress competitively used the Sabarimala issue. The LDF, in the meantime, positioned itself as a principled secular alternative. What this set off was a mighty wave in its favour.

The 2021 image is now seen in negative. The UDF has emerged as the only secular formation while both the CPM and the BJP blindly indulged in competitive Islamophobic utterances. Result: A UDF wave.

Mistimed hits
Even while celebrating its development and welfare initiatives, the LDF was willing to weaken its secular positioning for electoral gains.

In 2018, while trying to take on the leadership role in the national fight against the Citizenship Amendment Act, the CPM had tried to nullify the accusation of Muslim appeasement by sharply attacking Jamaat-e-Islami and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The CPM reserved for the Jamaat-e-Islami and the SDPI the same disgust it seemed to hold for the RSS. This rotating equal-force slap for the extreme Hindu (RSS) and the extreme Muslim (Jamaat/SDPI) gave the CPM a blockbuster secular appeal.

However, after the 2024 Lok Sabha drubbing, when it was assessed that the secular balance had caused the loss of both Hindu and Muslim votes, the CPM threw impartiality to the winds. The desertion of Hindu votes perhaps hurt the CPM more.

From then on, Jamaat-e-Islami, particularly, was singled out for attack. A CPM veteran like A K Balan said that if the UDF came to power, the Jamaat-e-Islami will control the Home department. The virulence of the attacks was so disproportionate relative to the Jamaat's influence that it seemed to border on Islamophobia.

If this was just suspicion, the perennially angry Chief Minister's refusal to even mildly rebuke the SNDP general secretary Vellapally Natesan for his incessant Muslim hate was confirmation.

Deal or no deal
Running parallel to Islamophobia was the allegation of a CPM-BJP deal in a clutch of constituencies.

The charge was that the BJP and the CPM had fielded candidates in constituencies where the UDF had the upper hand after the local body polls in such a way as to favour each other.

For instance, Palakkad. After over two decades, the CPM fielded a Muslim candidate (N M R Razak) as its Independent. The ploy, it was argued, was to wean away Muslim votes from the Congress candidate.

Thrippunithura, where the BJP had a strong winnable presence, was another 'deal spot'. Here, it was said that the BJP had opted out and placed a weak T20 candidate so that the potential BJP votes could drift to the CPM.

Manjeshwar, Kasaragod, Konni, Ranni and Ettumanoor were the other constituencies where a BJP-CPM deal was suspected.

The allegation seems to have stuck. Except in Ranni, the UDF swept the rest.

Secular hypocrisy
And then, during the second half of the short campaign, the CPM sprang a surprise saying it was not averse to accepting the votes of SDPI, which the party in its 2025 political resolution had termed as "fundamentalist and extremist".

From bragging that it would not commit political adultery for a handful of votes, party leaders now wonder what is wrong in accepting votes that have been offered, even if by the SDPI.

The voter response to such hypocrisy was brutal.

Personality disorder
If such an unprincipled behaviour went unquestioned, it was only because of the fear of the leader.

Pinarayi Vijayan was the only presence in the party, the rest (the ministers and even the CPM national and state secretaries) seemed to exist as in-house conservators whose only job is to keep the leader's image in twinkling polish.

Even the proven charge of the Chief Minister's daughter obtaining monthly payments from a company with government stake was vehemently, but stupidly, defended by the party.

The 2025 local body polls had made it indisputable that the leader was sneered at and not admired. Still, no one in the party thought it was time to mend ways.

Not surprisingly, like in 2021, the 2026 Assembly election was run as a referendum on the 'infallible leader'. Pinarayi was omnipresent, his face done in heroic mythic tones was all over the place.

In 2021, Pinarayi embodied stability at a time of crisis. Five years later, with no apocalyptic terror haunting the voter, he embodied all that was wrong with absolute power.

Silent rebellion
The besotted CPM leaders, for all practical purposes, Pinarayi's sidekicks, might have thought the man omnipotent, not the average CPM worker. A handful came out in open rebellion -- G Sudhakaran, V Kunhikrishnan, T K Govindan, Aisha Potty and P K Sasi. This was unprecedented, a symptom of the deep unrest that the leader had stoked within.

But it was a silent internal rebellion that eventually overthrew the autocrat.

Constituencies that were considered impregnable CPM fortresses -- Taliparamaba, Payyannur, Thrikkarippur, Perambra, and Balussery -- surrendered with ease. The CPM was spurned in most of its strongholds; in Kannur, Kozhikode, Idukki, Pathanamthitta and Kollam. Even wins -- in Azheekode, Mattannur, Manalur, and Kottarakkara -- looked miserable.

The leader himself was shown his place. From an imposing lead of over 50,000 votes in 2021, Pinarayi's lead in Dharmadom shrivelled to less than 20,000. Pinarayi might be used to even the party's general secretary doing his bidding but it was an irreverent young Congress candidate, V P Abdul Rasheed, who rattled Pinarayi.

A subtle message that there was no place for idol worship in a democracy.