UDF Creating Illusion That Liquor Policy Will Be Decided After Party Talks: K N Balagopal

Thiruvananthapuram: KN Balagopal has said that the UDF government, having already proposed provisions on low-strength liquor production in the budget and prepared a bill on the matter, is merely creating an illusion by now claiming the decision will be taken only after consultations within the party and the front. He said the UDF government is completely misleading the people on this matter, asking what relevance there is in saying the issue will be discussed within the UDF after a bill has already been passed in the Assembly and become a public record.

He questioned why those who took only a few hours to scrap the SilverLine project showed none of that same urgency or interest when it comes to low-strength liquor or the PM SHRI scheme. Had the LDF taken any such decision, he asked, wouldn't low-strength liquor already be available in the market today? The LDF's stance, he said, was that no tax concession should be granted to anyone — not just Bacardi. The LDF's concept was "Horti Wine," made from agricultural produce, but even that proposal was shelved without fixing a tax rate, out of concern that it too could encourage alcohol dependency. The current government, however, is pursuing these moves purely to benefit large liquor companies and corporates, he said, pointing out that the government has already completed all the groundwork needed to fix the tax and bring such products to market.

Balagopal said the propaganda around bar licences is testing the public's memory. He recalled that the closure of 748 bars during the previous UDF government's tenure had nothing to do with morality or any policy stance — it was the result of poor infrastructure at the bars and the bar bribery scandal. It must not be forgotten, he said, that it was the very same government that later granted beer and wine parlour licences to all those bars.

The bars eventually reopened because their owners obtained favourable court orders — not because the LDF reopened them as part of any policy. He said it has become routine for the government to introduce corporate-friendly provisions through budgets and ordinances, only to blame the previous government once these come to light, adding that recent events have made it clear to the public that what the Chief Minister says publicly and what he actually intends are two very different things.