Political Science · Ch 9 — Era of One-party Dominance
Communist victory in Kerala
Communist victory in Kerala
The 1957 Kerala election was the first time anywhere in the world that a communist party came to power through a democratic election. This event is a landmark in Indian political history because it showed that the Congress party could be defeated at the ballot box, and it also raised serious questions about the use of central emergency powers.
In the March 1957 assembly elections, the Communist Party of India (CPI) won 60 out of 126 seats. With the support of five independent members, it commanded a clear majority. The Governor invited the leader of the Communist legislature party, E. M. S. Namboodiripad, to form the ministry. This was the first democratically elected communist government anywhere in the world.
The CPI had come to power promising radical and progressive policy measures. Once in office, it began implementing land reforms and other pro-worker policies. This provoked strong opposition from the Congress party, which had lost power in the state. The Congress launched a ‘liberation struggle’ against the elected government. The Communists, in turn, claimed that this agitation was led by vested interests and religious organisations.
In 1959, the Congress government at the Centre dismissed the Communist government in Kerala using Article 356 of the Constitution. This decision proved highly controversial. It is widely cited as one of the most prominent instances of the misuse of constitutional emergency powers. The dismissal of a democratically elected state government by the Centre became a major political issue and a recurring point of debate in Indian federalism. …
The photograph shows E. M. S. Namboodiripad walking at the head of a procession of Communist Party workers. The setting is a street in Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram), Kerala, in August 1959. Namboodiripad is dressed in a simple white shirt and dhoti, typical of a political leader of that time. He is not smiling; his expression is serious, reflecting the gravity of the moment. Behind him, a dense crowd of party workers marches, many carrying flags and banners. The procession is orderly but clearly a show of political strength and protest.
The event being shown is the immediate aftermath of the dismissal of the first democratically elected Communist government in the world. The Congress-led central government had just used Article 356 of the Constitution to remove Namboodiripad's ministry, claiming that law and order had broken down in Kerala. The photograph captures the moment when the ousted chief minister, instead of retreating, led his supporters onto the streets. This was a powerful visual statement: the Communist Party was not crushed by the dismissal; it was taking its case to the people. …
Acharya Narendra Dev (1889-1956): Freedom fighter and founding President of the Congress Socialist Party; jailed several times during the freedom movement; active in peasants’ movement; a scholar of Buddhism; after independence led the Socialis …