THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Concerns over the Census enumeration work slated to begin later this year, with regard to the possibility of the Centre using the data to update the National Population Register (NPR), found resonance in the state assembly on Thursday. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan assured the assembly that the NPR questionnaire will not be used during the house visits as part of the Census work. He flayed the Opposition for trying to create unnecessary fear among minority communities in the name of Census.
“The state will go ahead with the Census, which is just a normal process that happens once every decade. But as the government has clarified many times, nothing related to NPR will be included in it,” Pinarayi said.
The chief minister was responding to a notice by KM Shaji of the Indian Union Muslim League, who wanted the matter to be discussed in the assembly in the form of an adjournment motion. Pointing out that the Centre was informed about the state’s opposition to mixing the NPR with the Census, Pinarayi also refuted Shaji’s charge that the LDF government was trying to dupe Muslims in the state by portraying itself as the saviour of the community.