On Sunday, former Kerala minister and long-time Politburo member, MA Baby was named as the general secretary. Eight new members joined the Politburo as the Karats, Sarkar, and Surjya Kanta Mishra stepped down from the body, joining the party’s Central Committee as special invitees. For an ideology-driven political outfit, such transitions are also about ensuring continuity. It is against this backdrop that Prakash Karat’s statement that the transition is not a “generational shift” needs to be seen.

The task ahead for Baby is daunting, given the challenges the party is facing. The first would be the party’s stunting, with two states — Kerala and West Bengal — making up the bulk of the membership, and within that Kerala overwhelmingly so. This is not a good augury for the largest Left party in the country. The second challenge will be to cement national recall for the new leadership — Yechury, the Karats, and a few other senior leaders were prominent on the national stage while the new leadership will need to work at this. Third, Baby and the new leadership will have to contend with the shrinking of space for the Left in the political sphere. This is not just an India-specific problem; globally, there seems to be a retreat from what is understood as Left politics. The new leadership will have to hit the ground running if it is to reinvigorate the party.