Won’t link my mobile phone number with Aadhaar: Mamata Banerjee

Mangalore Today News Network

Oct 27 , 2017: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday averred that she wouldn’t link her mobile number with Aadhaar because it was a breach of privacy .

“Privacy is my right, and nobody can take it from me,“ she said at a Trinamool Congress core committee meeting. “I will not link my adhaar number with the mobile number. If my mobile connection is snapped for this, let it be.“

Banerjee has long been protesting against the Centre’s decision to make Aadhaar mandatory in social sector schemes. In case of linking Aadhaar with the mobile numbers, some PILs have already been filed in the Supreme Court seeking redressal. The latest plea in this regard sought to quash the March 23 notification, issued by the telecom department (DoT), and held it “unconstitutional“.

The petitioner, known as a Congress sympathiser, has thanked Banerjee for her stand on the issue.

In February , the apex court directed the Centre to set up an effective mechanism to scrutinise the details of the identity of over 100 crore existing and future mobile phone consumers.

Banerjee said that her party would build a Jana Jagaran Andolon on this issue. “Linking Aadhaar to mobile number is a violation of fundamental right.Who has given them the right to record the private conversation between two persons? In this way , husband cannot talk to his wife over the phone. Isn’t it a breach of privacy? We will spearhead a movement. And it will be done through social networking sites to build an opinion.We are preparing our youth members and IT wings for this,“ she said.

Security agencies, on the other hand, have hailed the mo ve to link phone numbers with Aadhaar. “It will check rampant use of SIM cards by the illegal immigrants and other groups involved in subversive activities. There would be a database through which the government can access the details of a suspect. Moreover, taking SIM cards would be difficult for those who are not law-abiding citizens of the country ,“ said a top official of a central security agency . Fake Aadhaar cards, however, remain a concern for the agencies.

 

Courtesy: The hindu