Keeping its date with taking a strong position against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Kerala government headed by CM Pinarayi Vijayan, decided to inform the Census Commissioner that the state will not implement the National Population Register (NPR) when census operations get rolling.
This comes days after the Kerala government moved the Supreme Court against the CAA and also passed a resolution against the law. Speaking to the press, State Local Administration Minister AC Moideen said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has already made this clear.
"This has been decided and it will inform to the Census Directorate that certain questions which will go for the preparations of the NPR will not be done here," said Moideen to the media, soon after the cabinet meeting.
After Punjab, Kerala became the second state in the country not to go forward with any action on the preparations for the NPR and with that, the National Register of Citizens (NRC), will also not happen.
The Vijayan cabinet decided to go with the decision of the Central Committee meeting of the CPI-M, which concluded on Sunday here. The meeting, while making it clear that the census operations can go ahead in the state, called upon people not to answer questions related to the NPR.
CAA against equality
The state assembly last month passed a resolution against the CAA and on January 13, Kerala became the first state in the country to file a suit in the Supreme Court requesting it to declare the CAA as unconstitutional.
The suit - which comes amid a nationwide uproar against CAA - seeks to declare the law as unconstitutional. It has been filed under Article 131 of the Indian Constitution. The Supreme Court is already hearing over 60 petitions against the law.
(With IANS inputs)
