Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 3 (IANS) Kerala will seek central government help to unravel the mystery behind the motive of a controversial survey – which had questions related to Muslims – conducted by a US organisation here last month.
‘We will seek the help of the central government and its agencies to find out why this happened here and for whom this was done and all other details,’ State Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told reporters here Wednesday.
The survey was conducted at Karimadom Colony, home to about a 100 poor families Oct 2, by a Kochi-based organisation for the Washington-based Princeton Survey.
Feeling suspicious about the 83-page questionnaire and its contents, especially about 30 questions that needed to be answered only by Muslims, the locals immediately reported the matter to police.
The police registered a complaint against the organisation but let off the five-member woman survey team.
The questions that needed to be answered by Muslim respondents only were about how religious they were, whether they wore the burqa, their opinion on US President Barack Obama administration, about Middle East issues, Israel, Bangladesh Muslims, among others.
Reacting to this, former state Bharatiya Janata Party president P. Sreedharan Pillai said it was dangerous trend.
‘The first question that needs to be asked is who gave them the sanction for this survey. Is the central intelligence in the know of what has happened. As per the rules for a survey of this nature, a clearance has to be obtained,’ Pillai said.
Sreeramakrishnan, leader of the Left’s youth wing, Democratic Youth Federation of India, is also alarmed.
‘The need of the hour is to find out in how many places has such a survey been conducted and whether this is part of an all India survey. This has to be investigated and the truth has to come out,’ Sreeramakrishnan said.
