The Kerala government on Friday said it has ordered a stay on all activities in connection with the National Population Register (NPR) in the state considering 'apprehensions' of public that it would lead to NRC in the wake of the controversial citizenship act.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's office in a release said: "After considering the concerns raised in the wake of the 2019 amendment in the Citizenship Act, the State Government has decided not to cooperate with the process to update the NPR to facilitate the preparation of the NRC."
“The NPR also deviates from constitutional values,” it added.
The NPR is a mandatory Register of usual residents of the country. It is prepared at local, state and national levels to create a comprehensive identity database.
The last time the NPR was collected was in 2010 along with the Census of India 2011.
Vijayan has also lashed out at the CAA saying it was an attempt to "curb" freedom and participated in a joint protest against it with the opposition Congress-led UDF on Monday.
People gathered in large numbers across the country and in most major cities defying prohibitory orders to protests against the amendments to Citizenship Act. While these were largely peaceful, there were also reports of violence from various corners of the country.
The newly amended law seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.
Earlier, after Kerala journalists were detained in Mangaluru where two people died in police firing, the state government expressed 'deep concern' and sought the intervention of Karnataka Chief Minister Yediyurappa for their immediate release.
Over 150 journalists from various media houses at Thiruvanathapuram braved rains and protested the CAA and detention of their colleagues on Friday.
The Kerala police have been directed to maintain high vigil in northern districts of Kerala and along its border with Karnataka in wake of the incident.
