The present General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is the new generation charismatic leader Prakash Karat .A graduate from the Madras Christian College, he went to study politics at the post graduate level at the University of Edinburgh. After he returned to India he joined CPI(M) in 1970.

Initially he began working as a subordinate of the party leader A.K.Gopalan .He was also a part of the student politics and was elected the President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Student`s Union .He also became the President of the Student`s Federation of India, the student wing of the CPM party in India between 1974 to 1979. While in JNU he was spotted and groomed by EMS Namboodripad. During the Emergency he went underground and was arrested twice .His political career took a U-turn when he was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI (M) in 1985 .In 1992 he became a member of the Politburo, which is the central decision making body of the party.

In 2005 he was elected the fourth General Secretary of the CPM which represented an unprecedented generational shift for a party used to the appointment of veterans .It was at this time that he emerged as a very important leader of the party when the CPM along with the three other Left parties were giving the crucial support to the UPA government in New Delhi. This former student activist is also the Managing Director of the Leftword Books which is a leading Left wing publishing house .He is also the member of the editorial board of the Marxist, a theoretical journal of the CPI (M).

Other then this his literary talent ranges from being the author of the book `Language, Nationality and Politics in India published in 1972.He has edited two books `A World to Win` which contains essays on the Communist Manifesto and `Across Time and Continents: A tribute to Victor Kiernan` published in 1999 and 2003 respectively. He is married to Brinda Karat who is also the member of the Central Committee of the CPI(M).

Karat has strictly followed the party`s stand of working as an opposition from within the government. From foreign policy to economic reform, Karat can always be found opposing the government`s stand. He is often heard making fiery speeches about India`s national interest.