How the Right Overtook the Left in India

There is a famous dialogue from hindi movie 3 idiots: “Dekho hum kahan nikal aaye aur tum kahan reh gaye” (See where we got to and where you left off).” The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cohorts could say this to the Communists of India.

RSS will be 100 years old in 2025. Communist movement in India is also a century old. The left produced some of the bravest fighters during the independence movement, even as the right approached the British Empire. It is no secret that a large proportion of the prisoners in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Cellular Jail were communists. Despite such a glorious past, the reality is that the Indian Left is now in a maze.

Today, the right clearly dominates Parliament: the BJP alone holds 240 Lok Sabha seats. Left-wing parties together occupy only eight seats. Contrast this with independent India’s first general election in 1951–52, when the Congress was in power and the Communist Party of India (CPI) was the main opposition party.

Currently, the right is also far ahead in terms of power and organizational structure. The total number of members of left-wing parties (those contesting elections) does not exceed 2 million, and the mass organizations they represent are around 30 million. RSS alone has over 7 million members and BJP has over 100 million members.

The trajectory of Left and Right

The rise and fall of these political entities depends on various historical episodes, the main ones being changes in the system of social production. The first years of development after the 1950s saw the establishment of industrial cities and the emergence of a strong left-wing working class. Major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata witnessed a strong presence of the Left which reflected in their political strength. However, the capitalist production system underwent significant changes after the mid-1980s. The rise of fragmented production, a decline in the organized working class, and the corresponding increase in informal sector workers pushed the left off the political scene.

Meanwhile, the right maintained its presence through cultural interventions – a space largely neglected by the left. Informal sector workers have become fertile ground for identity politics based on caste and religion. Consequently, there has been a parallel rise of the right and decline of the left in Indian cities.

Another critical factor was the strong presence of the Left in rural India, led by the slogan of “land reform” and related movements. They were influential throughout the country for a long time. However, in recent decades, newer classes have emerged within the peasantry, and many of them have moved to the right.

Beyond land reforms, the Left has struggled to build sustainable layers of governance except in West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala. He remained excessively preoccupied with the imminence of a revolution and the idea of ​​capturing state power. It pushed aside all other essential matters. And the revolution never materialized.

The national question is crucial to both the left and the right, although their approaches differ. For the Left, this involves uniting all democratic sections of society against external enemies, especially imperialism. This was evident during the colonial period. However, in independent India, the narrative of a foreign enemy could not be supported so strongly for obvious reasons.

Instead, for the right, the national question is less about unity among people and more about promoting the narrative of “Hindu nationalism” against perceived “others”. During the independence movement, this narrative did not gain much traction as Indian nationalism against British rule managed to mobilize larger sections of society. In recent decades, however, this second form of “nationalism” has increasingly dominated the narrative and become more pronounced over time.

Another major element relates to the idea of ​​modernism and the role of the Constitution. Undoubtedly, the Constitution has its roots in the best modernist values ​​of equity, secularism, socialism and more. However, the nation-state remained influenced by feudal and semi-feudal values, which continue to shape its character.

Unlike the West, where modernism evolved out of the defeat or destruction of class feudalism, which was preceded by the Renaissance, religious reform and the Enlightenment, no worthwhile revival could take place in India. The religious reform that took place in some parts of the country could not disintegrate the caste system that affected all Indian religions, and the Brahminical Enlightenment could not produce a new egalitarian anti-caste philosophy. India has a peculiar situation now, where the Constitution is far ahead of politics and human values, which are still evolving. This provides fertile ground for the Right to advance both post-truth narratives and campaigns on religious and identity issues.

Leadership and organizational strategies

Jyoti Basu, the former Chief Minister of West Bengal, once spoke of the “historic blunder” of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was referring to the party’s decision not to allow him to be prime minister after the 1996 Lok Sabha polls triggered a hung Parliament. His remark deserves deeper reflection. The left is still fixated on revolution and reluctant to accept the multi-layered demands of electoral politics. If the left doesn’t want to take full responsibility, why should people trust their votes? This disconnect is evident in Kerala, where voters support the Left in Assembly elections but shift to other parties in general elections. On the other hand, the right maximizes every electoral success to advance its agenda. In every national and Assembly election in the last 10 years, it has been clear that the right is trying to ensure that no opportunity is left untapped.

This divergence also highlights the contrasting leadership styles of the left and right. The generation of leftist leaders who built mass movements and endured state repression is all but gone. Leaders like HKS Surjeet, who spent over a decade in jail, represent a fading legacy. Today’s leftist leadership often comes from educational institutions—a natural progression—but lacks the experience of building movements on the ground. In China, the Communist Party believes in building cultural consciousness. Even Xi Jinping was sent to work in the farmlands for years away from his university. But that is not the case in India. On the other hand, right-wing leaders spend time with their cadres and help build leadership. Before he became the Prime Minister, when Narendra Modi was in charge of the States, he would constantly spend time with the cadres and even stay in their homes.

Globally, the pendulum of social and political ideologies has swung to the extreme right, and India is no exception. The question is: when will it turn back and what will catalyze this change?

Tikender Singh Panwar, Former Deputy Mayor, Shimla, and Member, Kerala Urban Commission. He was Sitaram Yechury’s political secretary