Kerala to neither implement nor cooperate with NPR

Further tightening its stand against CAA, the Kerala Government has decided to formally inform the Registrar General and Census Commissioner that it could not either implement or cooperate with National Population Register, but would fully cooperate with Census.

The CPM-led left-front government had already announced that it would not implement NPR in Kerala as it would lead to NRC and CAA. The Kerala government was also the first state government to move the Supreme Court challenging CAA.

The Cabinet that met on Monday decided to formally write to the Census Commissioner under the Home Ministry that NPR would not be allowed in Kerala. There was fear among the people as NPR would lead to NRC. It is the responsibility of the state government to address the fear among the people and to ensure law and order," said a statement from the office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The statement also said that the police had alerted that data collection for NPR may lead to law and order problems in the state. District collectors had informed that attempts to collect data for NPR along with Census data collection would affect even Census data collection, said the statement.

The state government had already decided to suspend all activities related to NPR in the state.