The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a Marxist-Leninist political party in India. The CPI considers the 26 December 1925 Kanpur conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led militant struggles such as the peasant revolt in Telangana, organising guerrilla warfare against feudal lords. The CPI was the main opposition party in India during the 1950s to 1960s. In 1964, a split in the CPI led to the formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which eventually emerged as the larger of the two parties. CPI supported the rule of Indira Gandhi, but later changed course and joined the left unity. CPI was part of the ruling United Front government from 1996 to 1998 and had two ministers under the Devegowda and Gujral ministries.
In 2025, the CPI had two members in the Lok Sabha and two members in the Rajya Sabha. In addition, it has 20 MLAs across three states and one each in the MLCs of Bihar and Telangana. It is designated a state party by the Election Commission of India as of 2023 in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Manipur. As of September 2026, the CPI is part of the Left Democratic Front coalition that forms the Opposition in Kerala. The CPI has four Cabinet Ministers and a Deputy Speaker in Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, it is a part of the Left Front, it provides confidence and supply to TVK-led Alliance, which is in power.
Contents
Name
The CPI is officially known in Hindi as the Bhāratīya Kamyunisṭ Pārṭī (भारतीय कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी), or BhaKaPa (भाकपा).
History
Formation
The Communist Party of India (CPI) was formed on 26 December 1925 at the first Party Conference in Kanpur, which was then known as Cawnpore. S. V. Ghate was the first General Secretary of the CPI. There were many communist groups formed by Indians with the help of foreigners in different parts of the world, a group formed in Tashkent, Uzbekistan made contacts with the Anushilan and Jugantar groups in Bengal, and small communist groups were formed in Bombay (led by Shripad Amrit Dange), Madras (led by Singaravelar), the United Provinces (led by Shaukat Usmani), Punjab, Sindh (led by Ghulam Hussain), Orissa (led by Bhagabati Charan Panigrahi) and Bengal (led by Muzaffar Ahmad).
The CPI's year of formation is disputed. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), which split from the CPI in 1964, considers 17 October 1920 to be the CPI's founding day. On that day, M. N. Roy, Evelyn Trent-Roy, Abani Mukherji, Rosa Fitingov, Mohd. Ali, Mohamad Shafiq, and M. P. T. Acharya met in Tashkent to form the communist movement in India. Neither the 1920 nor 1925 dates are considered significant by the Communist International, because the CPI had not adopted a party constitution on either occasion, which was one of the main prerequisites for membership in the international.
Involvement in independence struggle
During the 1920s and the early 1930s the party was poorly organised, and in practice there were several communist groups working with limited national co-ordination. The government banned all communist activity, which made the task of building a united party difficult. Between 1921 and 1924, there were three conspiracy trials against the communist movement: the Peshawar Conspiracy Cases, the Meerut Conspiracy Case, and the Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case. In the first three cases, Russian-trained muhajir communists were put on trial; however, the Kanpur trial had more political impact. On 17 March 1924, Dange, M. N. Roy, Ahmad, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani, Malayapuram Singaravelu, Ghulam Hussain, and R. C. Sharma were charged, in the Kanpur case. The specific pip charge was that they as communists were seeking "to deprive the King Emperor of his sovereignty of British India, by complete separation of India from Britain by a violent revolution." Pages of newspapers daily splashed sensational communist plans and people for the first time learned, on such a large scale, about communism and its doctrines and the aims of the Communist International in India.
Singaravelu Chettiar was released on account of illness. M. N. Roy was in Germany and R. C. Sharma in French Pondichéry, and therefore could not be arrested. Ghulam Hussain confessed that he had received money from the Russians in Kabul and was pardoned. Muzaffar Ahmad, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani and Dange were sentenced for various terms of imprisonment. This case was responsible for actively introducing communism to a larger Indian audience. Dange was released from prison in 1927. Rahul Dev Pal was a prominent communist leader.
On 26 December 1925, a communist conference was organised in Kanpur. Government authorities estimated that 500 people took part in the conference. The conference was convened by a man called Satya Bhakta. At the conference Satyabhakta argued for a national communism and against subordination under the Comintern. Being outvoted by the other delegates, Satyabhakta left the conference venue in protest. The conference adopted the name 'Communist Party of India'. Groups such as Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan (LKPH) dissolved into the CPI. The émigré CPI, which probably had little organic character anyway, was effectively substituted by the organisation now operating inside India. Soon after the 1926 conference of the Workers and Peasants Party (WPP) of Bengal, the underground CPI directed its members to join the provincial WPPs. All open communist activities were carried out through Workers and Peasants parties.
After independence
During the period around and directly following Independence in 1947, the internal situation in the party was chaotic. The party shifted rapidly between left-wing and right-wing positions. In February 1948, at the 2nd Party Congress in Calcutta, B. T. Ranadive (BTR) was elected General Secretary of the party. The conference adopted the "Programme of Democratic Revolution", which included the first mention of struggle against caste injustice in a CPI document.
In several areas the party led armed struggles against a series of local monarchs that were reluctant to give up their power. Such insurgencies took place in Tripura, Telangana and Kerala. The most important rebellion took place in Telangana, against the Nizam of Hyderabad. The communists built up a people's army and militia and controlled an area with a population of three million. The rebellion was brutally crushed and the party abandoned the policy of armed struggle. BTR was deposed and denounced as a left adventurist. In Manipur, the party became a force to reckon with through the agrarian struggles led by Jananeta Irawat Singh. Singh had joined CPI in 1946. At the 1951 party congress, the main slogan was changed from People's Democracy to National Democracy.
A Communist Party was founded in Bihar in 1939. Post independence, the Communist Party achieved success in Bihar (Bihar and Jharkhand). The Communist Party conducted movements for land reform, and the trade union movement was at its peak in Bihar in the 1960s–1980s. The achievements of communists in Bihar placed the communists in the forefront of the left movement in India. Bihar produced some of the most well-known leaders like Kishan leaders Sahajanand Saraswati and Karyanand Sharma, intellectuals like Jagannath Sarkar, Yogendra Sharma, and Indradeep Sinha, mass leaders like Chandrasekhar Singh and Sunil Mukherjee, trade union leaders like Kedar Das and others. In the Mithila region of Bihar, Bhogendra Jha led the fight against the Mahants and Zamindars. He later went on to win the Parliamentary elections and was MP for seven terms.
In the early 1950s, young communist leadership was uniting textile workers, bank employees and unorganised sector workers to ensure mass support in north India. National leaders like Shripad Amrit Dange, Chandra Rajeswara Rao, and P. K. Vasudevan Nair were encouraging them and supporting the idea despite their differences on the execution. Firebrand Communist leaders like Homi F. Daji, Guru Radha Kishan, H. L. Parwana, Sarjoo Pandey, Darshan Singh Canadian and Avtaar Singh Malhotra were emerging between the masses and the working class in particular. This was the first leadership of communists that was very close to the masses and people consider them champions of the cause of the workers and the poor. In 1952, CPI became the first leading opposition party in the first Lok Sabha, while the Indian National Congress was in power.
Present situation
The CPI was recognised by the Election Commission of India as a national party. Until 2022, CPI happened to be the only national political party from India to have contested all the general elections using the same electoral symbol. Owing to a massive defeat in 2019 Indian general election where the party saw its tally reduced to two MPs, the Election Commission of India sent a letter to CPI asking for reasons why its national party status should not be revoked. Due to repeated poor performances in elections, the Election Commission of India withdrew its national party status on 10 April 2023.
On the national level, they supported the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government along with other parliamentary Left parties, but without taking part in it. Upon attaining power in May 2004, the United Progressive Alliance formulated a programme of action known as the Common Minimum Programme. The Left bases its support to the UPA on strict adherence to it. Provisions of the CMP mentioned to discontinue disinvestment, massive social sector outlays and an independent foreign policy. On 8 July 2008, the General Secretary of the CPI(M), Prakash Karat, announced that the Left was withdrawing its support over the decision by the government to go ahead with the United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act. The Left parties combination had been a staunch advocate of not proceeding with this deal citing national interests.
In West Bengal, the CPI participates in the Left Front. It also participated in the state government in Manipur. In Kerala, the party is part of Left Democratic Front. In Tripura the party is a partner of the Left Front, which governed the state until 2018. In Tamil Nadu it is part of the Secular Progressive Alliance and in Bihar it is the part of Mahagathbandhan. It is involved in the Left Democratic Front in Maharashtra. In February 2022, CPI and Congress formed an alliance in Manipur named the Manipur Progressive Secular Alliance. The current general secretary of CPI is D. Raja.
Presence in states
As of 2026, the CPI is a part of the opposition in Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, it is part of the Secular Progressive Alliance coalition led by M. K. Stalin. The Left Front governed West Bengal for 34 years (1977–2011) and Tripura for 25 years (1993–2018)
List of members of parliament
Leadership
The 24th Party Congress of the Communist Party of India was held from
2025 September 21 to 25 in Chandigarh
General Secretary
D. Raja
National Secretariat
K. Ramakrishna will be an invitee to the national secretariat. Pallab Sengupta, President of the World Peace Council and in charge of the CPI International Department for several years, will be a permanent invitee to all higher bodies of the party.
List of general secretaries and chairperson
Article XXXII of the party constitution says:
"The tenure of the General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary, if any, and State Secretaries is limited to two consecutive terms—a term being of not less than two years. In exceptional cases, the unit concerned may decide by three-fourth majority through secret ballot to allow two more terms. In case such a motion is adopted that comrade also can contest in the election along with other candidates. As regards the tenure of the office-bearers at district and lower levels, the state councils will frame rules where necessary."
Principal mass organisations
All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC)
All India Students Federation (AISF)
All India Youth Federation (AIYF)
National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW)
All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) – peasants' organisation
Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union (BKMU) – agricultural workers organisation
Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) – cultural wing
All India State Government Employees Confederation (state government employees)
Indian Society for Cultural Co-operation and Friendship (ISCUF)
All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO)
Progressive Writers' Association (PWA)
All India Adivasi Mahasabha (tribal wing)
All India Dalit Rights Movement (AIDRM)
Tamil Nadu Oppressed People's Movement
People's Service Corps
Ganamukti Parishad
In Tripura, the Ganamukti Parishad is a mass organisation amongst the state's Tripuri people.
Notable leaders
Abdul Sattar Ranjoor – Founding state secretary of the CPI in Jammu and Kashmir
Ajoy Ghosh – Former general secretary of CPI, freedom fighter
Amarjeet Kaur – General Secretary of the AITUC and CPI National Secretary
Annabhau Sathe – Samyukta Maharashtra movement leader
Annie Raja – General Secretary of NFIW and National Executive Member of CPI
Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan – Former general secretary
Aruna Asaf Ali – Freedom fighter
Binoy Viswam – Former Member of Rajya Sabha, former minister in the Government of Kerala and current State Secretary of CPI Kerala State Committee
Bhan Singh Bhaura – Parliamentarian from Punjab and Founding President of Khet Mazdoor Sabha
Bhargavi Thankappan – Parliamentarian
Bhupesh Gupta – Parliamentarian
C. Achutha Menon – Finance minister in first Kerala ministry and former chief minister of Kerala
Chandra Rajeswara Rao – former general secretary, Telangana freedom fighter
Chaturanan Mishra – parliamentarian and former Central Minister of India
C. K. Chandrappan – Parliamentarian and former CPI Kerala State Secretary
General election results
State Legislative assembly results
N/A indicates Not Available
indicates in government or in Coalition government
Results from the Election Commission of India website. Results do not deal with partitions of states, defections and by-elections during the mandate period.
* : 12 seats in Assam and 1 in Meghalaya did not vote.