If not for TN, Left would have been left with 1 MP

If not for an alliance with the DMK in Tamil Nadu, the Left would have been left with a single seat from Kerala in the upcoming Lok Sabha.

It won five seats this time, down from 10 seats in the 2014 general elections. Of the five seats, four are from Tamil Nadu and one from its lone surviving bastion Kerala. It has failed to send a single MP from erstwhile bastions of West Bengal and Tripura.

Two Left-backed independents too won from Kerala last time.

The Left, which was the main Opposition party in the first Lok Sabha, was reduced to its lowest tally. Its hopes of victories in Bihar were also thrashed when voters sent CPI's youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar in Begusarai and CPI(ML)'s Raju Yadav in Arrah home.

Fifteen years ago, at the height of its popularity in 2004, the Left had won 63 seats and the CPM, the biggest Left party, then polled 5.66% of votes nationally, winning 43 seats. But in 2009, it was reduced to 16 seats.

“This is one of our worst performances. Left parties need to introspect and rework its strategy on how to reconnect with people. But to say Left has lost relevance is not true. But we have to think how to cash in on electorally,” CPI National Secretary D Raja told DH.

It was Tamil Nadu that gave some respectability for the Left this time as it won Coimbatore and Madurai (CPM) and Nagapattinam and Tiruppur (CPI) riding on an alliance led by the DMK.

While it was decimated in West Bengal and Tripura, where there were four sitting MPs from the CPM, the results from Kerala were a rude shock as the Left did not expect such a drubbing.

Even its strong candidates in Kerala, M B Rajesh, P K Biju, and A Sampath could not survive the onslaught from the Congress, which fared miserably elsewhere, with leaders suggesting that its pro-women entry stands on Sabarimala alienated a section of Hindus while minority communities stood behind Congress.

The CPM could win only Alappuzha in Kerala, where popular sitting MLA M A Arif won, while at least nine Left candidates lost by over one lakh seats.

The CPM has not yet recovered from the Assembly loss in Tripura where Congress candidates emerged second in both the seats while in West Bengal, a BJP surge and Trinamool Congress' hold prevented the Left from retaining its sitting seats.

The Left, especially the CPM, credited by other Opposition parties for setting the anti-BJP agenda since 2015 through consistent campaigns against the BJP on lynching, Dalit atrocities, farm distress, and other issues, now has a bigger battle at hand: remaining relevant in national politics.

Despite its less than impressive electoral gains in recent times, the CPM had rallied together a diverse range of liberals and anti-BJP activists on the same platform and even bridged the gap between Scheduled Castes and Marxists through a slogan 'Neel Salaam, Lal Salaam'. The CPM was also seen as a prime mover of the Opposition unity.

Both the CPM and CPI, which so far enjoyed national relevance despite reduced numbers in Parliament, could see its clout reducing if they do not reinvent and redefine their strategy. A senior Left leader said they would have to take up people's struggles more vigorously to stay relevant in the near future.