Vijay Prashad, the anti-India, anti-Hindu Marxist historian and executive director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, has denied that his organisation has any financial connection to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or the protests in India. However, financial disclosures filed by the US-based nonprofit record substantial payments to an Indian research company whose shareholders include senior CPI(M) leader Sudhanva Deshpande.
The disclosures raise questions about the financial and organisational links between Tricontinental and the Indian Marxist establishment, particularly as the institute and Prashad face scrutiny over their role in an international network of left-wing organisations that have amplified protests across countries.
Prashad’s Denial
In a statement addressed to the Indian media, Tricontinental described itself as a research institute committed to developing knowledge from the ideas of working people and social movements. It said that it had operated for ten years and received funding from public foundations and individual donors, but not from any government.
The institute also said its finances were publicly available through annual filings with the US Internal Revenue Service.
More significantly, the statement denied that Tricontinental had ever funded a political party and rejected any financial connection with the CPI(M) or the protests in India. It also denied having any connection with groups involved in the protests in Paris.
<Statement> Statement by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research to the Indian media:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research is a research institute that has a mission of building knowledge from the ideas of working people and social movements. It has been at work for ten years and has built up a body of work that can be read on its website, https://t.co/SRfY1TgPfi. We are funded by a range of public foundations and individual donations, but not from any government; our finances are publicly available through the annual Internal Revenue Service Forms 990 filings. Tricontinental has never funded any political party and so has no financial connection to the CPI(M) or with the protests in India. We have no connection to any group in the Paris protests.
— Vijay Prashad (@vijayprashad) October 23, 2026
However, the institute’s own US tax filings identify an Indian company, Tricontinental Research Services Ltd, as an independent contractor paid for research, analysis and translation services.
US Tax Filings Record Payments to Indian Company
According to the Form 990 disclosures published by ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer, Tricontinental Ltd reported payments of $138,200 for the 2022 tax year and $206,790 for the 2023 tax year to Tricontinental Research Services Ltd, based in New Delhi.
Together, these two entries account for $344,990 in reported payments across the two tax years. The filings classify the work as research, analysis and translation services.
These disclosures establish a financial relationship between the US nonprofit and the Indian company.
CPI(M) Leader Sudhanva Deshpande Is a Shareholder
The Indian company’s financial statements provide another important link. Tricontinental Research Services Private Limited’s related-party disclosures identify Sudhanva Deshpande as a shareholder and record that he served as a director from 16 March 2018 to 9 May 2025.
Deshpande is also listed as a permanent invitee on the CPI(M)’s central leadership page.
The company’s financial statements further identify Vikas Rawal as a shareholder and list Ambedkar Pindiga and Atul Chandra among its directors during the relevant periods.
The disclosures also record payments to Deshpande, including salary payments of ₹19.97 lakh for the year ended 31 March 2025 and ₹2.27 lakh for the year ended 31 March 2026, as reported in the statements supplied.
The significance of these records lies in the overlap between the US nonprofit’s payments to the Indian company and the company’s ownership links to a CPI(M) leader. The records establish these connections, although they do not demonstrate that the payments were passed on to the party or used to fund demonstrations.
Hello, Marxist @vijayprashad
You have transferred more than $9,00,000 into the Indian company Tricontinental Research Services LTD.
CPIM leader Sudhanva Deshpande and a Marxist JNU professor are shareholders of this company.
Marxist student leaders from SFI are working in this company.
Still, you say you guys aren’t involved in this protest?
— Office Of Vijay Patel (@VijayGajeraO) October 23, 2026
Prashad and the International Protest Network
Vijay Prashad is funded by Neville Roy Singham, the American-born Marxist financier based in Shanghai who has funded a network of left-wing organisations worldwide.
A Fox News Digital investigation published in October 2026 examined the role of communist and socialist organisations in amplifying France’s protests and identified Tricontinental among the organisations associated with Singham’s wider network.
Prashad himself drew a connection between protests in different countries in an October social media post referring to Paris, New Delhi and Buenos Aires.
The wider investigation described an international ecosystem of political organisations, activist groups and media outlets that promote or amplify protest movements.
The institute’s international political activity and its financial links warrant scrutiny alongside its public denials.
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