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His fans call him the captain, his admirers value his no-nonsense approach and his detractors despise him as a ‘dhoti clad Modi in disguise’. Notwithstanding the praises and admonitions, the importance of being Pinarayi Vijayan is obvious. 

He is the lone chief minister of the Left in India and the most important face of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). And now octogenarian Vijayan is vying for a third consecutive term after creating history of sorts, when his government was voted back to power in 2021.

At a time when the Left in India is gasping for breath and the right juggernaut continues unabated, Left rule in Kerala has become all the more important not just for its sympathisers, but for all who seek an alternative to majoritarianism.

Over nine years in power, how much of an alternative did Pinarayi Vijayan provide for the rest of the country to emulate? The earnest attempt to answer this would have to involve the age-old paradox of a Left government functioning under a neoliberal, majoritarian rule and the ideological ambiguities and complexities of the communist party working in a parliamentary democracy and the commitment of the political leadership.

Ever since he joined active politics and became a member of the legislative assembly at the age of 25, Vijayan has been actively embroiled in the machinations of parliamentary power politics.

Pragmatist to the core, Vijayan gave predominance to strategising for winning elections. Like former Chinese leader Deng Xiopeng, Vijayan did not bother about the ‘colour of the cat as long as it catches mice’.

 Pragmatism, as a political tool, is often at odds with the ideologies of the organisations. Hence a pragmatist is at the risk of being labeled as ‘revisionist’ or ‘opportunist’ by the ‘puritans’ within and outside the organisation.

The communist leaders who led the party in government have always had to walk a tightrope, balancing ideology and practical compulsions, necessitated by working under a practically centralised government. 

When the first communist government, led by E.M.S Nambodiripad invited G.D. Birla to invest in the state, offering him natural resources at throwaway prices, questions were raised from some quarters alleging ‘ideological deviations’ against the then CPI(M) government. 

The ideological dilemma of working under a capitalist system and pursuing a........

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