Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation | |
|---|---|
_Liberation_logo.png){kind=logo} | |
| Abbreviation | CPI(ML), CPI-ML, CPIML(L), CPI-ML(L), CPIML Liberation |
| General Secretary | Dipankar Bhattacharya |
| Founder | Subrata Dutta Vinod Mishra Swadesh Bhttacharya |
| Founded | 1974; 51 years ago (1974) |
| Split from | CPIML |
| Headquarters | Charu Bhawan, U-90, Shakarpur,Delhi-110092 |
| Newspaper | Liberation (English)[1] Deshabrati (Bengali)[2] |
| Student wing | All India Students' Association |
| Youth wing | Revolutionary Youth Association |
| Women's wing | All India Progressive Women's Association |
| Labour wing |
|
| Peasant's wing | All India Kisan Mahasabha |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Far-left |
| Colours | Red |
| ECI Status | State Party[4] |
| Alliance | I.N.D.I.A (National) Mahagathbandhan (Bihar) Mahagathbandhan (Jharkhand) |
| Seats in Rajya Sabha | 0 / 245 |
| Seats in Lok Sabha | 2 / 543 |
| Seats in Bihar Legislative Assembly | 2 / 243 |
| Seats in Jharkhand Legislative Assembly | 2 / 81 |
| Number of states and union territories in government | 1 / 31 |
| Election symbol | |
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| Party flag | |
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| Website | |
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TheCommunist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation (CPI(ML)L) is acommunist political party in India.[5] The party is represented inBihar andJharkhand Legislative Assemblies. Since 2023, the party is also a member of theINDIA bloc.[6] In Bihar, the party has significant base amongst theExtremely Backward Castes and theScheduled Castes. It was successful in mobilisingUpper Backward Caste groups such asKoeris in some districts of central Bihar, prior to the rise ofLalu Prasad Yadav. The party faced existential crisis when a large section of its Koeri and Yadav support base defected toRashtriya Janata Dal in 1990s. However, the ideological commitment of its cadre protected it from disintegration.[7] It staged a comeback in politics after winning twelve seats inBihar Legislative Assembly in 2020 and by sending two of its members toLok Sabha in2024 Indian general elections.[8] However, the party was reduced to 2 seats in the2025 Bihar Legislative Assembly election.
In 1973, the originalCommunist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) split, with one group led by Sharma and another by Mahadev Mukherjee.Vinod Mishra initially belonged to Mukherjee's party, but he and the Burdwan Regional Committee broke with Mukherjee in September 1973. Mishra sought contact with the Sharma group, but the Burdwan Regional Committee was later divided and Mishra denounced the political line of Sharma (a critique, which amongst other things, called for the formation of open mass organizations, a move that almost constituted a heresy in the CPI (ML) movement at the time).[9]
In 1974, Mishra came into contact with Subrata Dutta (Jauhar), a leader of armed struggle in the plain areas ofBihar. On 28 July 1974 (the second death anniversary ofCharu Majumdar), a new partyCentral Committee was formed with Jauhar as General Secretary and Mishra and Swadesh Bhattacharya (Raghu) as members.[9] The reorganized party became known as the 'anti-Lin Biao' group (whilst the faction of Mahadev Mukherjee constituted the 'pro-Lin Biao' group).[10] The anti-Lin Biao group became known as the CPIML Liberation.[11]
Mishra served asWest Bengal secretary of the new party organization. Under Mishra's leadership newdalams (guerilla squads) were formed.
In November 1975, Jauhar was killed duringLal Sena activities. Mishra became the new party General Secretary in a reorganized five-member Central Committee. Mishra organized a second party congress, held clandestinely in the rural areas ofGaya district in February 1976. The congress unanimously re-elected Mishra as General Secretary.[9]
Mishra was the political architect of the process of re-orientation of CPIML Liberation.[9] By 1976 the party had adopted a position that armed struggle would be combined with building a broad anti-Congress democratic front movement.[11] The process was further elaborated through an internal rectification process initiated in late 1977. Party study circles and party schools were started from central to the block level of the party structure. The theory of two line tactics started to develop.
In 1981, the party tried to unify the other splintered ML factions. The party organised a unity meeting with 13 ML factions to form a unified leading core. However, the initiative was a failure.
In the early 1980s, CPIML Liberation began building an open non-party mass movement (in direct to the original policy of CPI (ML)), theIndian People's Front (founded in April 1982).Nagbhushan Patnaik became the president of IPF. The construction of IPF, through which the underground party could develop links to other democratic forces on the basis of a popular, democratic and patriotic programme, was based on interventions by Mishra.[9] However, although Mishra broke with the dogmas of the early CPI (ML), he never renounced Charu Majumdar's legacy.[10]
In the third party congress, it was decided that IPF will participate in parliamentary elections. In 1989, IPF'sRameshwar Prasad won the loksabha seat from Ara (Bhojpur). In 1990, IPF won seven seats from Bihar Legislative Assembly. Special initiatives taken for restructuring the party and open up. IPF hold its first rally on 8 October 1990 in Delhi.
CPIML's mass base in the state of Bihar was among the members of Extremely Backward andSchedule Castes and it was initially unable to draw support for its activities from theupper backward castes. It was, however successful in mobilising theKoeris in the regions likeArrah,Rohtas,Patna andAurangabad. This success remained temporary as with the formation ofRashtriya Janata Dal, theKoeri andYadav support base of CPIML increasingly shifted its loyalty to the RJD. This was because plum posts in the party was offered by RJD to those defecting from the CPIML. During this period four legislators associated withIndian People's Front, the open mass organisation of CPIML defected to the RJD. These wereShri Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, K.D Yadav, Umesh Singh andSuryadev Singh. However, the party was saved from complete ruin by the presence of top leadership which was ideologically committed and belonged to social groups such as non-YadavOther Backward Castes.[7]
In 1985, the party launched People's democratic Front (PDF) inKarbi Anglong district of Assam which won a seat in state assembly. In 1987 PDF was transformed toAutonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC). A sustained mass movement by ASDC help it to sweep district council elections in 1989. In 1981, ASDC'sJayanta Rongpi became an MP in Parliament. In 1996, ASDC was able to send its five-member group in Assam assembly as MLA.
In 1992, after the Fifth party congress (Held in Kolkata), the party comes out in the open from its underground status.[5] Mishra was re-elected General Secretary of the party at the sixth congress of CPIML Liberation inVaranasi in October 1997.[9]
The CPIML(Liberation), led byDipankar Bhattacharya is a surviving faction of the CPIML.[12] Liberation has established legal overground structures (trade unions, student groups, peasant organisations etc.) and participates in elections. In the Lok Sabha elections in 1999 the party won 0.3% of the votes and one seat (the former ASDC-seat fromAssam). In the 2004 elections the seat was lost, mainly due to a split within ASDC. As of 2016, the party has been able to send its representatives to the state legislative assemblies ofBihar andJharkhand as well as the panchayats of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Punjab.
In November 2020, it won 12 seats in Bihar's election. In 2025, it was reduced to 2 seats.
In 2024, it was able to win two seats in from Bihar in Indian general election. The CPIMLL candidates,Raja Ram Singh Kushwaha andSudama Prasad were able to defeat union ministerR. K. Singh inArrah Lok Sabha constituency andUpendra Kushwaha and Bhojpuri singer and actorPawan Singh inKarakat Lok Sabha constituency. In a report,Dainik Bhaskar stated that the party is more strong thanIndian National Congress in the state of Bihar, given its stellar performance in2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly elections and 2024 Indian general elections. Many a times, it was seen protesting against its own government outside and inside the house of legislative assembly. The party was also praised for its ground level work amongst the downtrodden section of society and for winning the elections with bare minimum resources, when other political parties relied on heavy funding from the corporate for their election expenses.[13][8]
However the party suffered a setback in 2025, when it won just 2 seats in the2025 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, suffering a loss of 10 seats.
CPIMLL has also showed significant presence in the regions such asSiwan and has been at the forefront in the fight against local landed magnates on the question of poor. It came into conflict with the gangster politician Mohammad Shahabuddin in the region, who was supported by local feudal elements. The Party has been served in the region by the influential local leaders suchRamesh Singh Kushwaha.[14]
The English-language publication of the party isLiberation, and thus the party is called CPIML Liberation. Apart fromLiberation, the party publishes a central Hindi weekly organ,Samkaleen Lokyuddh. Some state party committees publish their own organs, like the weeklyAjker Deshabrati inWest Bengal,Nabasphulinga inTripura,Teeppori in Tamil Nadu,Telugu Liberation inAndhra Pradesh,Kannada Liberation inKarnataka,Samkali Lok Morcha inPunjab, etc.[15][16]
The party has a longstanding conflict with the feudal landlords since the beginning of CPI (ML). Siwan, Bhojpur, Arrah are the strongholds of CPI (ML) movement.[17] The communist movement in Bihar was founded by the comradeJagdish Mahto, Rameshwar Ahir and Ramnaresh Ram in the Ekwaari village of Bhojpur.[18] Traditionally, CPIML had a strong base betweenKushwahas andDalits of Bihar.[19]
CPIML Liberation emerged as the fifth largest party in Bihar Legislative Assembly Election 2015. The party contested jointly along with CPI, CPI(M), RSP, Forward Bloc, and SUCI(C) as a third alternative to theNational Democratic Alliance and theMahagathbandhan ofLalu Prasad Yadav andNitish Kumar. The party won the seats ofDarauli,Balrampur andTarari each. The party has a vote percentage of 1.5% in the state. All the left parties together have a vote percentage of 3.59%.[20]
CPI(ML) Liberation contested the2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election as part of theMahagathbandhan, an alliance of theUPA and the leftist parties led by theRashtriya Janata Dal. The party secured 12 seats with a vote percentage of 3.16%, making it the fifth largest party in theBihar Legislative Assembly.[21][22] However, the Mahagathbandhan lost the election to the rivalNational Democratic Alliance.[23]
As a result of the election, the CPI(ML)L was recognised as astate party by theElection Commission of India.[4]
In this election, contesting under the Mahagathbandhan, the party won just 2 seats and was the ninth largest party inBihar Legislative Assembly. Its vote percentage reduced to 2.84%.
Since the separation of Jharkhand from Bihar important places likeRanchi,Dhanbad,Giridih,Koderma,Jamtara and others have been field of work of the party. In Jharkhand the party is the representative of regionaladivasis who have conflicts with corporates and government against improper land seizure without proper rehabilitation. The party also has conflicts with the local coal mafias.
| Members ofJharkhand Legislative Assembly | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5th Jharkhand Assembly | ||||
| Year | Nos. | Name | Constituency | Votes |
| 2024 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election | 1. | Bablu Mahato | Sindri | 105,136 |
| 2. | Arup Chatterjee | Nirsa | 104,855 | |
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The party contested in cooperation with state left parties likeMarxist Co-ordination Committee (MCC), CPI, and CPI(M) as an alternative to the BJP and INC led alliances. The party won theDhanwar seat.[25] The party got 1.5% of vote in the state. All the left parties together got 2.5% vote in the state.
The party gained the legislative assembly seat ofBagodar[26] but lost the previous seat fromDhanwar.
In the2024 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election, theMarxist Co-ordination Committee (MCC), which since its inception was closely associated with theCPI(ML) Liberation, formally merged with the CPI(ML)L in September 2024.
Following the merger, CPI(ML)L held its first meeting on 10–11 September 2024, where five MCC leaders were inducted into its Central Committee.[27]
As a result of the election, the CPI(ML)L gained the legislative assembly seats ofSindri andNirsa.[28]
The current general secretary of the party isDipankar Bhattacharya, first elected in 1998 after the passing of Vinod Mishra. The 11th party congress of CPIML Liberation, held in Patna, Bihar from 15 to 20 February 2023 elected a Central Committee with 77 members. The Central Committee later elected a 17 numbers ofPolitburo members Committee.[29][30]
| No. | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Dipankar Bhattacharya |
| 2 | Swadesh Bhattacharya |
| 3 | Kartik Paul |
| 4 | Ramji Rai |
| 5 | Amar |
| 6 | Kunal |
| 7 | Dhirendra Jha |
| 8 | Janardan Prasad |
| 9 | Manoj Bhakt |
| 10 | Shankar V |
| 11 | Rajaram Singh |
| 12 | Vinod Singh |
| 13 | Meena Tiwari |
| 14 | Abhijit Mazumdar |
| 15 | Shashi Yadav |
| 16 | Sanjay Sharma |
| 17 | Ravi Rai |
| No. | Name | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Subrata Dutta | 1974–1975 |
| 2nd | Vinod Mishra | 1975–1998 |
| 3rd | Dipankar Bhattacharya | 1998–incumbent |
| Election Year | Overall votes | % of overall votes | seats contested | seats won | +/- in seats | +/- in vote share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bihar Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 2015 | 5,87,701 | 1.54% | 98 | 3 / 243 |  3 |  0.29 |
| 2020 | 13,33,682 | 3.16% | 19 | 12 / 243 | 9 | 1.66 |
| 2025 | 14,25,592 | 2.84% | 20 | 2 / 243 | 10 | 0.32 |
| Jharkhand Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 2005 | 2.46% | 28 | 1 / 81 |  | | |
| 2009 | 241,436 | 2.35% | 33 | 1 / 81 | | 0.11 |
| 2014 | 210,446 | 1.52% | 39 | 1 / 81 | | 0.83 |
| 2019 | 172,475 | 1.15% | 14 | 1 / 81 | | 0.35 |
| 2024 | 337,062 | 1.89% | 4 | 2 / 81 | 1 | 0.74 |
| Lok Sabha | ||||||
| 2009 | 1,044,510 | 0.25% | 0 / 543 | | | |
| 2014 | 1,007,275 | 0.18% | 0 / 543 | | 0.7 | |
| 2019 | 711,715 | 0.12% | 0 / 543 | | 0.6 | |
| 2024 | 1,726,309 | 2.99% | 4 | 2 / 543 | 2 | 2.87 |
| Members of Lok Sabha | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Lok Sabha | Name | Constituency | Margin |
 | 13th Lok Sabha | Jayanta Rongpi |  | 1,04,864 |
 | 18th Lok Sabha | Sudama Prasad |  | 59,808 |
| Raja Ram Singh Kushwaha |  | 1,05,858 | ||
 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17th Bihar Assembly | ||||
| Year | Nos. | Name | Constituency | Margin |
 | 1. | Birendra Prasad Gupta |  | 2,302 |
| 2. | Mahbub Alam |  | 53,597 | |
| 3. |  |  | ||
| 4. |  |  | 12,119 | |
| 5. | Gopal Ravidas |  | 13,857 | |
| 6. | Sandeep Saurav |  | 30,915 | |
| 7. |  |  | 48,550 | |
| 8. | Shiv Prakash Ranjan | 29,835 | ||
| 2024 By-election | ||||
| 9. |  | 11,015 | ||
| 10. | ||||
| 2024 By-election | ||||
| 11. |  |  | ||
| 12. |  | | ||
| 13. |  |  | ||
| 14. |  |  | ||
 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16th Bihar Assembly | ||||
| Year | Nos. | Name | Constituency | Margin |
 | 1. | | | |
| 2. | Mahbub Alam | | 20,419 | |
| 6. | | |||
 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14th bihar Assembly | ||||
| Year | Nos. | Name | Constituency | Margin |
 | 1. | Amar Nath Yadav | | |
| 2. | Mahbub Alam | |||
| 3. | | | ||
| 4. | ||||
| 5. | ||||
The main mass organizations of the party are:
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
