The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Flag is a Marxist-Leninist

Marxism-Leninism

Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...

 political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The party is one of the most moderate factions of the wider Naxalite

Naxalite

The word Naxal, Naxalite or Naksalvadi is a generic term used to refer to various militant Communist groups operating in different parts of India under different organizational envelopes...

 movement.

The main leader of the party is P.C. Unnichekkan

P.C. Unnichekkan

P.C. Unnichekkan is a communist politician from Kerala, India. He is the Kerala State Secretary of the Communist Party of India Red Flag.-References:...

, the Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

 State Committee secretary of the party. Yuvajana Vedi is the youth wing of the party.

2003 split

The party emerged out of a split in the erstwhile Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Flag

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Flag

Communist Party of India Red Flag was a political party in India. CPI Red Flag was formed in 1988 as a break-away from the Central Reorganization Committee, CPI. The party's main base of support was in Kerala, where it emerged as the major ML faction...

 (led by K.N. Ramachandran) in 2003. The Unnichekkan group opposed the merger of CPI(ML) Red Flag with Kanu Sanyal

Kanu Sanyal

Kanu Sanyal, , was an Indian communist politician. In 1967, he was one of the main leader of the Naxalbari uprising...

's Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Kanu Sanyal)

Communist Party of India is a communist party in India. The party is one of many working under the name of CPI. The party general secretary was Kanu Sanyal...

. Another issue of disagreement was the question of participation in the World Social Forum

World Social Forum

The World Social Forum is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemonic globalization...

, which the Unnichekkan group opposed. The Unnichekkan group organised a national conference of their own at the Nayanthahalli Nityananda Dhana Mandiram in Bangalore

Bangalore

Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...

 on December 20-21, 2003, electing a party Central Committee

Central Committee

Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...

 consisting of M.S. Jayakumar (All India Secretary), Ayyappa Hughar (Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

), K. Chandrasekhar (Karnataka), L. Govindaswami (Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

), M.M. Somasekharan (Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

), P.C. Unnichekkan (Kerala) and P.J. Baby (Kerala).

2004 Lok Sabha election

The party had two candidates in the 2004 parliamentary election

Indian general election, 2004

Legislative elections were held in India in four phases between April 20 and May 10, 2004. Over 670 million people were eligible to vote, electing 543 members of the 14th Lok Sabha...

, both contesting as independents

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

. T.B. Mini, a member of the Kerala State Committee of the party, contested the Ernakulam Lok Sabha seat

Ernakulam (Lok Sabha constituency)

-Assembly segments:Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency is composed of the following assembly segments:#Paravur#Vypin#Ernakulam#Kochi#Thrippunithura#Thrikkakara#Kalamassery-Members of Parliament:Travancore-Cochin*1951: C.P. Mathew, Indian National Congress...

, getting 10,418 votes (1.6% of the valid votes in that constituency). K.T. Kunhikannan, a Kerala State Secretariat member of the party, contested the Vadakara seat

Vadakara (Lok Sabha constituency)

-Assembly segments:Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency is composed of the following assembly segments:#Tellicherry#koothuparamba#Vadakara#Nadapuram#Kuttyadi#Quilandy#Perambra-Members of Parliament:*1957: K.B. Menon, Praja Socialist Party...

, getting 7,482 votes (0.9%).

2006 anti-reservation protests

The party opposed the 2006 protests against quotas for backward classes in higher education

2006 Indian anti-reservation protests

The anti-caste-based-reservation protests 2006, that took place in parts of India, were in opposition to the decision of the Union Government of India, the multiparty coalition 'United Progressive Alliance' , to implement reservations for Other Backward Classes in central and private institutes of...

, claiming that the protestors represented a segment of the rich urban elite. The party called for nationwide agitations to support the introduction of reservations for backward classes in the educational system.

2008 split

In March 2008, K.T. Kunhikannan and his followers was expelled from the party for having sought closer relations with the Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Communist Party of India (Marxist)

The Communist Party of India is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2011, CPI is leading the state government in Tripura. It leads the Left Front coalition of leftist parties in various states and the national parliament of...

. Kunhikannan then organized his own CPI(ML) Red Flag. In April 2008, Kunhikannan's faction merged into CPI(M).

2009 election

Ahead of the 2009 parliamentary election

Indian general election, 2009

India held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009. With an electorate of 714 million , it was the largest democratic election in the world to date.By constitutional requirement, elections to the Lok Sabha must be...

, the party declared its support for the candidates of the Left Democratic Front

Left Democratic Front

Left Democratic Front is a coalition of left winged political parties in the state of Kerala, in India. This is one of the two major political coalitions in Kerala, each of which have been in power alternatively for the last two decades. LDF is the coalition that is presently in oppposition...

, for the sake of securing victory of secular

Secularism

Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...

 forces. Unnichekkan motivated this position stating dissatisfaction with the foreign policies of both the National Democratic Alliance

National Democratic Alliance (India)

The National Democratic Alliance is a centre-right coalition of political parties in India. At the time of its formation in 1998, it was led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and had thirteen constituent parties. Its convenor is Sharad Yadav, and its honorary chairman is former prime minister Atal...

 and the United Progressive Alliance

United Progressive Alliance

The United Progressive Alliance is a ruling coalition of center-left political parties heading the government of India. The coalition is led by the Indian National Congress , which is currently the single largest political party in the Lok Sabha...

 (the two main political blocs at the national level), claiming that both groups sought to align India with Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.