Pro-China, communist opposition party split from the Communist Party of India (CPI) in 1964.
Some CPI members beginning in the late 50s took issue with rapprochement efforts by party leaders with the Indian government led by Jawaharlal Nehru, as he was beginning to establish a strategic alliance with the Soviet Union in the midst of Sino-Soviet antagonism begun in 1956. The Sino-Indian War of 1962 alienated pro-China CPI members even further to a point of no return, and the new Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M))was born on November 7, 1964.
Party began to lose favor and credibility when it sided with China-ally Pakistan in its war against the independence efforts of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1971.
Though considered a minor party (it has three representatives in the Lok Sabha), the CPI(M) has supplanted the CPI in total membership and in representation in various state assemblies (especially, Kerala's). The general secretary of CPI(M) has been Sitaram Yechury since 2018.
