Looking at their general election summaries, throughout the 1900s the communist party never broke more then 10%. Even throwing in the socialist parties and that total doesn’t seem to go over 15%. Considering India was and still is largely agrarian, and at the very least much of the population in lower classes and poverty, I feel like that would be the perfect combination for a much larger communist movement. This is my second time asking, and hopefully someone can answer! Thank you!
It's important to remember that India is broken into a number of different states, some of which are hotbeds of communism. The most famous example is Kerala, which has been run (on-and-off) by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for the last few decades. It also happens to have the highest quality of life in India, with the highest life expectancy, lowest infant mortality, highest literacy rate, etc. Many people (such as Nobel-winning economist Amartya Sen) have used Kerala as an example of how strong social policies (land reform, universal healthcare, etc.) can have a positive impact, even in the poorest countries. You can read a bit more about it here.
The CPI (Marxist) is a reformist electoral party, but there are also armed revolutionary communist groups in India. Most famous is the Communist Party of India (Maoist), better known as the Naxalites. The best book about them is Walking With the Comrades, by the great Indian writer Arundhati Roy. She talks about the reasons for their struggle (most notably resource extraction and what Roy considers a campaign of state terrorism against indigenous people in central India), as well as the means of their struggle. Keep in mind, it is a politically slanted source (Roy definitely sympathizes with the Communists), but she also gives a good rundown of the factual situation. There was also an interesting government report on the Naxalites, which goes over some of their positive achievements, and the reasons why people often support them, as well as some of their more unsavory actions.
As for why the rest of India has not had the same level of communist activity, there are a few likely reasons. Ethnic and religious tensions are very common, making it hard for communists to organize along class and economic lines. The political focus of many people in India is more nationalistic than socialistic; even while the vast majority of Indians dislike capitalism, the focus is more on Hindu and ethnic nationalism. I hope this answers the question.
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