Assam is making fuel and alcohol cheaper to woo voters ahead of the Assembly Elections in April

• The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making fuel cheaper by ₹5 and slashing taxes on alcohol by 25% to woo voters.
• The State Assembly Election is slated to take place in April, this year.
• After winning the majority away from Congress in 2016, BJP is hoping these measures will help assuage voters after protests broke out against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019.

The Assam State Assembly Election is still two months away but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is already paving the way to woo voters. The state’s finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma withdrew additional cess on petrol, diesel and alcohol on Friday.

The removal of these taxes, this will make petrol and diesel cheaper by ₹5 and the cost of alcoholic beverages will dip by 25%. And, the new rates will be applicable starting midnight tonight.

"At the peak of COVID-19, we had levied additional cess on petrol, diesel and liquor. Now, the number of patients has reduced... I am grateful to my cabinet colleagues who agreed to my proposal this morning to rescind this additional cess,” Sarma said during his speech to the House where he presented a vote-on-account for ₹60,784.03 crore.

He also revealed that Assam’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 23.12% between 2016-17 and 2019-20 at constant prices. The annual growth rate stood at 7.71% in the period as against the rate of 6.11% at the national level.

The 2016 election was a big win for the BJP. It was able to usurp the Congress leadership which had been in place since 2001 under Tarun Gogoi.

However, during the BJP’s time in power the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has led to mass protests across the state. However, Sarma is confident of BJP’s win. In 2019, he said that the BJP will come back into power by winning at least 100 out the 126 assembly seats.

Congress, on the other hand, plans to fight the 2021 election by forming a ‘Grand Alliance’. The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has reportedly given its consent along with some leftist parties. There is also the possibility of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) joining the coalition.

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