CPM’s Bengal youth paradox: Active on campuses, but few join party ranks

The West Bengal unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is facing a youth paradox, with its student wing remaining active on campuses and young people continuing to join Left-led protests, but few are joining the party itself. Only 4.55 per cent of the CPM’s members in the state are below 30, according to figures in its latest internal organisational review, which described the proportion as a matter of concern and acknowledged that adequate importance is not being given to inducting new members.Youth activism, party disconnect The party’s state headquarters raised the issue in a 12-page letter to party members following the CPM’s extended state committee session held in Kalyani, Nadia district, on August 29 and 30.Also read | Which TMC is the real TMC?

Symbol battle heats up Bengal by-pollsThe findings have raised questions within the party over why political activity among young people is not translating into organisational renewal.The party’s internal communique did not dwell at length on the problem, while its leadership has also preferred to avoid discussing it publicly, but several youth activists linked to the party attributed the dichotomy to both internal and external factors.

Somnath Sow, a prominent SFI leader at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, said he distanced himself from the party over organisational issues, which he did not want to discuss at this stage, and to focus on his studies. Sow was associated with the SFI from 2013 to 2023 and is now studying and practising law in Burdwan After the 2026 Assembly elections, the CPM approached him again to become active in the party.

The missing organisational link Though Sow did not elaborate on the organisational issues he referred to, others who spoke to The Federal said the student organisation has a ready structure on campuses, while the connection often weakens once activists leave college and return to their native places. Many such activists return from campuses in Kolkata, Siliguri, Durgapur or Santiniketan to areas where CPM organisations have weakened considerably during the 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule, they said.

Even the party’s internal communique highlighted the problem, pointing out that as many as 64.90 per cent of the party’s branches in Bengal have no Auxiliary Group, the preliminary organisational structure through which sympathisers and supporters are recruited for primary membership. Even where a local CPM unit exists, former student activists said, young people are often expected to start again as ordinary recruits, with little institutional link between their work in the SFI and the local area committee.

A disconnect beyond Kolkata “There is often no communication or bridge between the area committee and student activists who return from campuses,” a former SFI activist said on condition of anonymity. Some activists also said the party had become too Kolkata-centric, with young leaders visible on city campuses receiving greater attention while those working in districts and blocks struggled to get recognition.

In support of their claim, they point to the departure of some former student leaders, allegedly after they failed to get prominence within the party. Two such recent cases they point to are Soumen Karfa and Pratikur Rahman, who were both associated with the SFI before moving away from the Left. Karfa, now a BJP MLA from Bhatar, had also been associated with the Democratic Youth Federation of India, the CPM’s youth wing.

Rahman joined the Trinamool Congress before the 2026 elections after differences with the CPM leadership’s strategy and later said he had felt “suffocated” and cornered. Migration weakens party links The absence of Auxiliary Groups from nearly two-thirds of branches means that the formal process of developing new activists is weak at the party’s basic organisational unit.

Also read | EC freezes TMC name, symbol for bypolls; rival factions told to pick new identities“The party may be thriving on Facebook, but it has no face at the booth level,” a CPM leader was quoted as saying in a report on the internal review. Some activists also pointed to external factors, saying better livelihood and educational opportunities outside the state are also drawing young people away from the CPM.

Debasish Mandal, a former SFI activist from Birbhum, left the organisation in 2018 when he moved to Jharkhand for higher studies. He said migration for education and employment was taking young people away from the state's political organisations.“Many SFI activists migrate to other states either for higher studies or employment opportunities. There are hardly any job opportunities in the state, so both educated and otherwise youth migrate, so they become physically detached with party, but their moral support remains,” Mandal said.

The youth membership paradox The CPM’s organisational figures are particularly striking because the party’s student front continues to have a…