West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday criticised the Centre for the alleged leakage of data of some Aadhaar beneficiaries on more than 200 Central and state government websites and described it as “dangerous” for the individual, society and the country.
Her criticism came on a day when the Unique Identification Authority of India, in response to a report based on a RTI reply stating that 210 government websites had made Aadhaar data public, said that Aadhaar data was completely safe and secure. As for the data being displayed on the government websites, they said that it was quickly removed.
“What is happening in the name of Aadhaar is extremely dangerous for freedom of expression. It is dangerous for the individual, for the society and for the country,” said Ms. Banerjee. She further alleged that because of Aadhaar even personal conversations may get leaked.
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“Even the conversations between a mother and daughter or husband and wife may get leaked,” the Chief Minister said. She also raised questions over the logic behind linking phone numbers and bank accounts with Aaadhaar.
“I don’t know why they (the Centre) are doing it. We already have PAN card and voter identity card. There are some people like Muhammad bin Tughlaq who are happy in committing whimsical acts like demonetisation,” said Ms. Banerjee.