By Shefa Rafi
In a twist to the notification in gazette for commencement of Census 2021 from April, the Tamil Nadu government announced that NPR is being deferred forthwith. And this came within a day of its notification in State government gazette. According to State Revenue Minister R P Udayakumar, the decision to put off NPR was taken by the government as there was no reply from the Centre regarding the implementation of NPR.
Noteworthy to mention that 31 questions were framed in the questionnaire for the residents in the first phase of enumeration which is mainly on households like door number, total number of occupants, toilet facility etc. The notification also mentioned about appointment of state coordinator, District Registrar, Additional District Registrar, Sub District Registrar, Charge Officer and Local Registrar.
Earlier during deliberations in the State Assembly, Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palanisamy while replying to a query from the opposition DMK made it clear that a resolution against CAA, NPR and NRC won’t be made in the House in the ongoing session. Public more so the Muslims were shocked following CM’s reply in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. Dejected over the development, the anti-CAA, NPR and NRC protesters across Tamil Nadu geared up to intensive their agitation.
Meanwhile, DMK leader Stalin while addressing the protesters at Mannadi in Chennai appealed to them to stop their sit-in protest as they need to begin this when the state government implements NPR. He urged the people to make it a non-cooperation movement throughout the Tamil Nadu against NPR. People shouldn’t cooperate with the enumerators and must avoid them totally. However, the Tamil Nadu Jamathul Ulema Sabai and other Muslim outfits besides all jamaaths are in talks about their next move.
The opposition DMK has been consistently seeking the Tamil Nadu government to pass a resolution against CAA, NPR and NRC in the State Assembly and several times the members had staged walkout from the assembly as there was no response from the CM. Now, its wait and watch situation for Muslims as whether the Tamil Nadu government will drop NPR in toto or commence Census work after sometime.