The 23rd CPM Party Congress ended in Kannur with the election of Sitaram Yechury as General Secretary for the third time and the declaration of the BJP as the main enemy. The new General Secretary have to face a lot of challenges including facing the BJP and building a secular India. He himself has revealed that the alliance at the national level is not effective for this. Local parties like the DMK in Tamil Nadu, the TRS in Telangana, the YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh and the BJD in Odisha have been able to stop the BJP from advancing. Apart from this, the BJP was blocked by Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in Bengal.

The reality is that the main enemy of the CPM in Kerala is the Congress, not the BJP, in the elections. It is impossible in today's Indian politics to bring them all under one roof. They prioritize personal and local agendas. At the same time, many regional parties have no hesitation in joining hands with the BJP for power. In this context, it remains to be seen how the new General Secretary will formulate strategies and moves to defeat the BJP-RSS forces with the new policy approach announced at the Party Congress. In Kerala, the alternative policies put forward by the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government will be highlighted as a national alternative to the current central government.

Yechury said that he also supports the SilverLine project and has stated that there is no difference of opinion between him and the Chief Minister of the state. He hoped that SilverLine will become party's proudest product. The party congress ended with a very exciting rally attended by millions of people. The 85-member Central Committee and the 17-member Politburo were elected. There are 17 newcomers in the Central Committee, including Balagopal. Ramachandra Dom from Bengal made history as the first Dalit representative to join the Politburo. It is also a time of concern for the party that the growth in party membership is subdued in states other than Kerala.

MC Josephine's death was a huge loss to the party. The Congress Party also learned many lessons from Prof KV Thomas issue. But the real lesson they need to learn is the steps taken by the CPM to make the organizing committees more lively and to ensure women-dalit representation.

It should also be underlined that the Party Congress held at Kannur, the Red Fort of the Indian Communist Movement, was in every sense a source of pride for Kerala. The CPM will now take on the task of propagating Kerala's development model and alternative positions across the country.