This year marks the 100th anniversary of two very different organisations that have shaped modern India: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Communist Party of India (CPI). The contrast in their centenary moments could not be starker. The RSS, now the establishment, celebrated its milestone with fanfare. The CPI, once a formidable force in national life, passed its 100th year almost unnoticed — too diminished even to mount a modest commemoration.

That silence invites a larger question: Has Indian communism reached the end of its long political journey, or is its apparent eclipse merely another phase in a turbulent history?

Few political movements in India have experienced such a rapid reversal of fortunes over the last two decades. Back in 2005, the Indian communists were riding high.. They had a big say in the decisions of the UPA government, ruled West Bengal and Tripura with unchallenged authority, and remained a powerful force in Kerala. At that moment, the Left seemed poised for renewed relevance across India. It threw this away when it withdrew from the UPA coalition in July 2008 and backed the BJP in trying to pull down the Manmohan Singh government.

Since then, it has been a precipitous fall for the Left. In the 2004 general elections, Left parties commanded around 60 seats in the Lok Sabha. They now hold barely 10. Their vote share has collapsed from about 8 per cent to under 3. Regionally, the Left Front has been ousted from power in both West Bengal and Tripura and governs only in Kerala.

Does this mark the end of a century-old political tradition? Not necessarily. Political ideas rarely disappear simply because parties espousing them decline. If a self-declared socialist like Zohran Mamdani — derided by US........

© Indian Express