CPI State chief Binoy Viswam leaving AKG centre after meeting with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in Thiruvananthapuram on October 29, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Nirmal Harindran
Communist Party of India (CPI) State Secretary Binoy Viswam on Wednesday (October 29, 2025) told The Hindu that Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] had agreed to “freeze” the administration’s agreement with the Central Government to secure federal funding for school education by signing on to the “reactionary and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-inspired National Education Policy (NEP) linked PM-SHRI scheme.
Cabinet sub-committee
Mr. Viswasm told The Hindu that the key ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) allies have reached a consensus to constitute a Cabinet sub-committee to review the agreement and explore options to secure obligatory Central funds for the education sector without the NEP string or other “implausible and unconstitutional” conditions attached.
He said the aggravating political circumstances that informed the CPI’s earlier decision to abstain from the Cabinet meeting had ceased to exist. “CPI’s four Ministers will attend today’s meeting”, he added.
The CPI(M) is yet to respond to the CPI’s latest stand.
The CPI had signalled a public break with the CPI(M) last week over PM-SHRI, after the administration “arbitrarily signed” the accord that “contravened” the Left’s national line against NEP without taking the Cabinet or the LDF into confidence.
The CPI felt piqued that the CPI(M) shut it out from the “decision to execute a radical policy reversal on NEP”. The subsequent CPI State Secretariat signalled political resolve to reassert the party’s traditional role as a corrective force within the LDF, lest political rivals deemed it a meekly acquiescent and subaltern partner to the CPI(M) in the ruling front.
Intense political activity
A flurry of intense political activity preceded the last-minute detente between the two key ruling front allies.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Mr Baby, CPI(M) State Secretary M.V. Govindan, and Left Democratic Front (LDF) convenor T.P. Ramakrishnan held a closed-door discussion at the AKG Centre, reportedly to assess the political situation and explore options to strike a “face-saving” middle way.
Almost simultaneously, the CPI’s State Secretariat gathered at the M.N. Smarakam with Mr. Viswam and CPI Ministers, P. Prasad (Agriculture), G.R. Anil (Civil Supplies), K Rajan (Revenue), and Chinchu Rani (Animal Husbandry) in attendance.
The CPI signalled it was pulling back from the brink of an awkward political showdown with the CPI(M) in the crucial election year, with Mr. Viswam calling on Mr. Vijayan for a closed-door one-to-one at around 1 p.m.
A summit between the leaders in Alappuzha on Monday (October 27, 2025) had failed to make any headway on the PM-SHRI issue.
Published – October 29, 2025 02:18 pm IST
