The United Democratic Front (UDF) government appears to have strayed unwarily into a social and political minefield by batting for the sale of low-proof starter drinks at a relatively lenient sales tax rate (120%) compared to the prohibitive 250% levy on hard liquor, in the 2026-27 Revised Budget. 

The suggestion to open the door for the sale of alcopops, fruit-flavoured ready-to-drink canned soda containing a small percentage of alcohol, reportedly caught the UDF constituents by surprise. 

Religious heads’ reaction

Ministers seemed at pains to reassure their traditional base among minorities that the UDF has not made a final call on the matter, and that the new government is yet to finalise the liquor policy for the current fiscal. The government came under withering criticism from the Church and also powerful Muslim social organisations, both proponents of a restrictive liquor policy promoting temperance. Prohibition activists, including Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran, have demanded a rollback of the proposal and raised the spectre of unchecked underage drinking. 

Various Left-leaning toddy workers’ unions have also objected to the proposal, claiming that it would sound the death knell for the ailing traditional sector. The LDF has alleged corruption in the form of “forsaking sales tax revenue estimated at ₹600 crore to give a pecuniary advantage to liquor companies at a significant cost to the exchequer”. Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan, who handles the Finance portfolio, reportedly came under criticism within the UDF for announcing the “unconsulted policy,” which provided political ammunition to the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Opposition and put the government on the defensive. 

Blaming the LDF

Meanwhile, a seemingly chary Congress sought to shift the blame by claiming that the previous LDF government had mooted low-proof liquor sales with a comparable sales-tax reprieve in 2021. Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary M.V. Govindan, who was then the Excise Minister, said he had merely referred the matter to the Subject Committee. A Congress leader noted that the liquor policy has always been a politically and socially sensitive issue, given Kerala’s high per capita consumption of alcohol and allied issues concerning familial welfare, household finances and public health. Hence, optimally, he said, the government should have taken all stakeholders on board before making the Budget proposal.

However, he added, the government’s intention seemed calibrated to prompt a gentle shift from hard spirits to low-proof beverages, a pattern followed by other States, including neighbouring Karnataka.