CPI(M) severs ties with P.V. Anvar after disaffected MLA’s self-proclaimed exit from parliamentary party in Kerala Assembly

CPI(M) cuts ties with LDF Independent legislator P.V. Anvar over vilification campaign, accusing him of aiding anti-Left forces.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] has severed its links with mutinous Left Democratic Front (LDF) Independent legislator P.V. Anvar. 

At a press conference in New Delhi on Friday (September 27, 2024), CPI(M) Kerala State secretary M.V. Govindan urged party workers and Left fellow travellers to “expose and resist” Mr. Anvar’s “vilification campaign” against the party and the Kerala government. 

Mr. Govindan said Mr. Anvar’s self-proclaimed exit from the CPI(M) parliamentary party and his repeated tirades against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his office and his family had prompted the announcement. 

Mr. Govindan accused Mr. Anvar of being the cat’s paw of anti-Left forces hell-bent on sowing confusion among party workers, Left supporters, and the general public during CPI(M)‘s crucial local and branch conferences in Kerala. The CPI(M) could not allow such “right-wing-orchestrated” subterfuge to affect organisational matters.

Mr. Govindan dismissed Mr. Anvar’s claim that Mr. Vijayan had enslaved the party’s rank and file and that no one dared criticise the Chief Minister or his office. 

He said Mr. Anvar was an outlier in the Left politics. “He came from a Congress background. Mr. Anvar should realise that the CPI(M) thrives on criticism and self-criticism. Its decisions are collective and consultative, not leader-centric,” he said.

Mr. Vijayan and the State and the central leadership repeatedly faced criticism in party committees and the ongoing local and branch conferences, Mr. Govindan said.