#WhatTheFAQ: Who is Kavitha Krishnan and why did she resign from CPI (ML) Liberation party?

Kavitha Krishnan, a prominent member of the CPI (ML) Liberation, resigned from all the posts she held in the party. She took it up on Facebook to point out that it was due to “certain troubling political questions”.

In her Facebook post, she also stated that she can express her questions as a member of the CPI (ML) Liberation party. After posting, Krishnan was relieved from all her positions and responsibilities by the party on Friday, September 2.

But who is this activist and what did her post say about socialism? Let's find out.

Who is Kavitha Krishnan?
Kavitha Krishnan, a women's rights activist, emerged as an influential activist during the anti-rape protests in 2012 after the Nirbhhaya gangrape of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi. She played a major role in the anti-rape protests. She also authored and published the book Fearless Freedom which is about the safety of women in India where she explores various aspects of women's safety in the country.

Starting her activism in her college days, Kavitha Krishnan went on to be the principal policy-making member of the Communist Party of Indian Liberation and served on this committee for over two decades.

What was the announcement she made that has created a flutter on social media?
Kavitha Krishnan announced via a post on Facebook that she was requesting to be “relieved from” CPI (ML) Liberation and all her responsibilities. She stated that she needed to “pursue certain troubling political questions”. 

In the post, she also raised three questions. In one of those questions, she mentioned the “need to recognise the importance of defending liberal democracies” and the flaws against raising authoritarian populisms around the world.  

She also stated the need to recognise the “Stalin regime, USSR, or China as failed socialism but as some of the world’s worst authoritarianism that serves as a model for authoritarian regimes everywhere.”

She ended her post by stating that she was “deeply thankful” for her political journey with the party. 

Here's a little bit of history
In June, Kavitha Krishnan posted on Twitter about China’s “Dystopian regime” and questioned her own party members about the idealogy they were fighting for. In July, she again tweeted that the USSR's industrialisation “under Stalin was possible because of the violent subjugation of Ukraine’s peasants (starvation, execution, exile) & colonial expropriation of Ukraine’s grain”.

What is the CPI (ML) Liberation party all about?
The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation is a party led by Dipankar Bhattacharya. Establishing legal structures for trade unions, student groups, peasant organisations, and so on, the party participates in elections and has representatives in state legislative assemblies of Bihar and Jharkhand.

The party has massive student and youth organisations like the Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA), the All India Studnet Association (AISA), the All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA) and so on.