CPI(M) is fighting both TMC and BJP in West Bengal: M.A. Baby

To claim a growing affinity between the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Bharatiya Janata Party is “ironical,” especially coming from someone who has served in a BJP government, CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby said on Friday (February 27, 2026), countering West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s recent remarks.

Mr. Baby was addressing a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Delhi’s AKG Bhawan. 

Ms. Banerjee, reacting to the Union Cabinet’s approval of the Kerala government’s proposal to change the State’s name from ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’, had said the move reflected a growing alliance between the BJP and the CPI(M). “The alliance is no longer unwritten after today,” she had remarked on Tuesday.

‘TMC, BJP both communal’

Mr. Baby reminded Ms. Banerjee that it was her Trinamool Congress (TMC) which had earlier been part of a BJP-led government helmed by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He said the CPI(M) is contesting in West Bengal against both the “anti-women and anti-poor” TMC and the “communal” BJP. He accused the BJP of deepening communal divisions and alleged that the TMC too has been furthering religious polarisation in its attempt to retain power.

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“Our comrades are fighting RSS and BJP in Kerala to stall their entry into mainstream politics of Kerala,” Mr. Baby said, adding that perhaps, Ms. Banerjee thinks that the CPI(M) too functions like her party. 

Responding to reports that the Congress may break ties with the Left in West Bengal, Mr. Baby said, “Parties coming to some understanding is based on the willingness of both.” The electoral outcome alone will judge whether such a decision was good or bad, he added. “We are definitely going to improve the electoral performance of the Left Front and the CPI(M). We are expanding the Left Front — for example, the CPI(ML) is becoming part of the Left alliance,” he noted.

On the Kerala Assembly polls, Mr. Baby underlined that Left parties never project a Chief Ministerial face, though he clarified that the campaign will be led by incumbent Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Slams Modi visit to Israel

Mr. Baby also condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel. “His address to the Israeli Parliament demonstrates a complete alignment of Indian foreign policy interests with Israel and the United States. This is a departure from India’s long-held position supporting the Palestinian cause and upholding the right of Palestinians to Statehood,” he said, calling the visit another example of aligning Indian foreign policy with Washington at the cost of India’s strategic interests.

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He announced that the CPI(M) would organise a mass rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 24 to protest the notification of the Labour Codes, the scrapping of MGNREGA and the enactment of VBGRAMG, the electricity amendment, the Seed Bills, and the Indo-U.S. trade deal.