The Kerala government has said that the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register will not be implemented in the state.
The government, however, will will co-operate with the Census operations.
But it will ask enumerators to exclude two questions - date of birth of the respondents and details of their parents - from the Census questionairre.
The crucial decisions were taken at a cabinet meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
It is believed that NRC and NPR will help in the implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which fast-tracks grant of citizenship on the basis of religion.
Kerala Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution against the CAA on December 31.
Last week, the Left Democratic Front government, led by veteran CPM leader Pinarayi Vijayan, approached Supreme Court to repeal CAA, NRC, Passport Rules and Foreign Order Amendments.
CPM stand
On Sunday, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) appealed to the nation to begin a new non-cooperation movement to fight the BJP government's “brazen anti-Muslim agenda” by refusing to answer any questions related to NPR.
“When the Centre is trying to confuse the people by saying that the NPR is part of the census operations, we appeal to them to say no to all NPR questions,” CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in Thiruvananthapuram.
He said the CPM would soon undertake an extensive nationwide house-to-house campaign to explain how NPR is linked to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and why questions on NPR should not be answered. Yechury, however, did not explain how the CPM would conduct the national house-to-house campaign given its paltry presence in most Indian states.
Yechury said it was indeed true that the NPR, when it was first done, was part of the Census operations. “Now, we are very clear that the NPR is the first stage towards the NRC notwithstanding what the prime minister said publicly,” Yechury said.
