It looks like Health Minister K Muraleedharan has thrown the CPM's youth wing, Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), near mortally wounded by the 'kafir' screenshot, just the perfect lifesaver before its 16th State Conference begins on August 19: food ban. 

Perhaps hit by the force of the blunder, the health minister attempted to make amends on Sunday. "Food has no politics, religion or caste. The poor should receive food. It is immaterial who gives it," the health minister said in a late clarification on Sunday.

On Saturday, the health minister sounded determined to throw the DYFI out of government hospitals. He said that the government would set up community kitchens in government hospitals and arbitrarily declared a ban on organisations supplying free food in government hospitals across Kerala.

"Under no circumstances will any organisation of any party be allowed into the hospital premises. If they want to provide lunch, let them. But it has to be done without waving their flags. Help should not be extended in the name of politics. If they are eager to help, these organisations can contribute to our community kitchens," Muraleedharan said.

On Sunday, he said that his earlier remarks were specific only to Alappuzha Medical College. Certain organisations were encroaching on land in the name of distributing food, he said. "The objection is to the encroachment, not to the distribution of food," Muraleedharan said.

The minister's 'community kitchen' move was interpreted as a ploy to banish political opponents from their areas of influence. Two organisations that efficiently and punctually distributed free food in government hospitals in Kerala have organic links to the CPM and the RSS: DYFI and Seva Bharathi. 

DYFI's free lunch scheme, 'Hridayapoorvam', has been in existence for over 10 years. Under this project, DYFI volunteers collect packed lunches from individual houses and distribute them at government hospitals. It is said that 40,000 free lunches are provided daily. 

Seva Bharathi has been providing 'kanji and payar' (porridge and pulses) to poor patients and bystanders in government hospitals for over sixteen years. And in the last three years, it has also been distributing free 'pothichoru' (packed lunch).

DYFI leaders have said that the organisation would continue the distribution of food till it is served a formal notice. Former minister P A Mohammad Riyas, in a show of defiance, took part in the 'pothichoru' distribution in Kozhikode Medical College on Sunday. 

"Ministers should do away with their egos," Riyas said on Sunday. "The packed lunches that DYFI collects from houses and provides to the needy in government hospitals have not violated any protocols and caused any problems till now. It also has universal support. It beats me why the minister is behaving in such a vengeful manner in such an issue. The minister should hold discussions with the DYFI and see how the scheme could be implemented in a coordinated fashion," he said. 

Two days ago, DYFI state president V Waseef had wondered how a DYFI flag could cause trouble for the poor. "Has there ever been a complaint that we have denied food to anyone in the name of politics," he said.

DYFI state secretary V K Sanoj had more probing questions. "I have only this to ask Muraleedharan. Why was the name 'Priyadarshini' given to the free bus ride project of his government? Why was Indira Gandhi's photograph used? And now a new medical college is being constructed in his father K Karunakaran's name. Does it not qualify as politics? Or does it become politics only when a DYFI flag is planted on the vehicle that carries packed lunches for the needy? We have not mixed politics in food, and will not," Sanoj said on Sunday. 

He said that the DYFI would continue to distribute free lunches in all the places it had been serving till now. "And we will use our flag. No Muraleedharan or, for that matter, any minister could prevent us from doing that," he said.

DYFI national president A A Rahim gave the issue an emotional charge. "There are teams tasked with collecting packed lunches from houses. Right at the start of this project, we had made a decision that even if a member of this team dies, the distribution will not be affected. Others will go ahead and complete the task. The distribution will not be stopped, not during Onam, not during Christmas, not during Ramzan. Not even during election losses or victories. Hartals or bandhs also will not deter us," Rahim said. 

He said that once in Thrissur, a DYFI comrade, Sanoop, who was part of the collection team, was killed. "The first thing we then said was that the distribution of food packets should not be affected. I want to remind Muraleedharan that when our comrade's body was on the post-mortem table in Thrissur Medical College, DYFI comrades with black badges on their chests went about distributing the lunch packets. So Muraleedhran shouldn't be deluded into thinking that DYFI would be deterred by what he said," Rahim said.

All of a sudden, it looks like the DYFI has acquired some moral heft. It was just two days earlier, on July 18, that the second DYFI member (Amal, a DYFI Vadakara Block Committee member and a CPM Kannankuzhi branch committee member) was arrested in connection with the spread of a fake 'kafir screenshot' in WhatsApp groups. Last month, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had arrested Jithin Bhaskar, a DYFI Block Committee member and CPM Thuruthi Local Committee member.

It was during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections that a screenshot of a WhatsApp message infused political poison into the campaign. The screenshot said that CPM's Vadakara candidate K K Shylaja was a 'kafir' and, therefore, Muslims should not vote for her. This communally charged message, attributed to a Muslim Students' Federation member Muhammad Kasim P, was widely circulated by the CPM as proof of the Congress's and the UDF's communal agenda.

As it turned out, the police investigation under the LDF government could not find anything against the MSF leader. Then, fingers gradually pointed towards DYFI and CPM leaders.

Now, by declaring a 'food ban', Muraleedharan seems to have redeemed DYFI politically. As its 16th State Conference begins in the middle of August, the DYFI has suddenly been hoisted to a high moral ground. And with Muraleedharan going back on his threat, the DYFI has even scored a major political win.