Perhaps recognising the need for a generational shift, the CPM at its recent party congress in Madurai named senior Kerala leader M.A. Baby as its general secretary to succeed the late Sitaram Yechury and inducted eight new members into its Politburo, many of them in their fifties. An 84-member Central Committee was also named, inducting 30 new faces. Baby is only the second leader from Kerala after EMS Namboodiripad to head the party. In keeping with the 75 years age cap, veterans such as Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, Manik Sarkar and Subhashini Ali were dropped from the Politburo. The only exceptions were Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and P.K. Sreemathy. Vijayan is tasked with leading the party in the Kerala Assembly elections next year and trying to secure an unprecedented third term in power. For Baby, the path ahead is onerous, as he........

© Free Press Journal