The Kerala government on Monday said it will inform the Centre that it has decided not to implement the proposed National Population Register in the state. It added that the state government would not cooperate with any work related to updating the National Population Register, but will fully cooperate with the Census 2021.

The decision was taken at a special Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram district.

As first reported by Scroll.in, the NPR is the first step to creating an all-Indian National Register of Citizens which would identify undocumented migrants residing in India.

The Cabinet said that any move to implement the NPR against the backdrop of the National Register Of Citizens would cause deep insecurity in the state, The Hindu reported.

Therefore, the state has decided to inform the registrar general, and the census commissioner under the Union Home Ministry that they could not cooperate with the preparation of the NPR.

The government added that district collectors had reported that any move to link the Census process with the NPR would trigger public law and order problems.

“Any attempt to enforce NPR will only jeopardise the 2021 Census,” state Finance Minister Thomas Isaac tweeted.

Last month, Kerala had joined West Bengal and stopped all work connected to the National Population Register too. The state has also challenged the amendments to the Citizenship Act in the Supreme Court and had passed a resolution against the amended law in the Assembly.