Hyderabad: Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament, Saket Gokhale has made bombshell allegations against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led BJP government at the Centre accusing it of “deactivating” Aadhaar cards of West Bengal residents for political gains. In a social media post titled ‘How the Modi Government can snatch away all your rights by deactivating your Aadhaar’, Gokhale said there has been a “sudden incident where Aadhaar cards of residents of West Bengal have been deactivated by the Modi Government”.
The allegations have reignited the debate around the alleged data and privacy through Aadhaar cards.
TMC MP’s Fresh Allegations: TMC MP Saket Gokhale said that after the “sudden incident” of “deactivation” of Aadhaar cards, Gokhale said that on Monday, CM Mamata Banerjee wrote to PM Modi over the matter and also announced that Aadhaar will not be required for availing public services in West Bengal.
“No matter where you live in India, the following could happen to you if the Modi Government deactivates your Aadhaar because you oppose the BJP: You’ll lose access to all services where Aadhaar is required,” Gokhale said. He said that the Election Commission has been “forcing people to link their Voter ID to Aadhaar and lakhs of people have done so”.
Deactivation of your Aadhaar can lead to cancellation of your voter details and render you ineligible to vote in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” he said. “You lose access to your basic identity proof as that’s what Aadhaar is meant to be. You stand to lose access to banking and financial services (or anything that has Aadhaar KYC),” he added.
When and if an NRC is introduced, you will be a ghost on the records of the government. This brazen deactivation of Aadhaar by the Modi Government has happened to the people of West Bengal. While CM Mamata Banerjee is fighting tooth and nail against this, remember that you might be next,” said Gokhale. The TMC MP said he has written to the Chairman of UIDAI demanding an explanation.
“I appeal to you to raise your voice on this very critical issue where the Modi Govt can erase your identity suddenly by deactivating your Aadhaar. This is very serious,” he wrote in the post.
Letter to UIDAI CEO: In the letter written to the CEO UIDAI, Gokhale said that there have been numerous incidents and complaints from residents of West Bengal about their Aadhaar cards being deactivated suddenly and without any prior notice or intimation. “This issue has already been raised yesterday by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal Ms. Mamata Banerjee in a letter written to the Hon’ble Prime Minister,” he said.
“Yesterday, on 19/0212024, Hon’ble Union Minister Sh Shantanu Thakur addressed the media where he said that the Aadhaar cards of residents of West Bengal had been deactivated due to a “technical error “,” Gokhale said. “In this regard: (a) Please furnish details of this alleged “technical error” which led to Aadhaar cards of residents of West Bengal being deactivated (b) Please state the total number of instances of Aadhaar cards being deactivated due to a “technical error” between the period Jan 2020 till date (c) Please state the total number of Aadhaar cards that have been deactivated between Jan 2023 till date and in which states have these deactivations happened (d) Please state which services and benefits will an individual will be deprived access to in case their Aadhaar card is deactivated,” he wrote in the letter.
“Your attention is drawn to Office Memorandum F. No. 11013/14/2022-Estt.A-III issued by the Govt of India which states: Sec 4(iv) : information sought by a Member of Parliament should be supplied unless it is of such a nature that it would have been denied to him even if asked for on the floor of the Houses of Parliament You’re, therefore, requested to furnish the information sought above by the undersigned MP in not more than 5 days from the receipt of this D.O. as it pertains to an urgent matter of grave public interest,” he added.
Allegations Reignite Debate Over Aadhaar ‘Data Breach’: The fresh allegations by the TMC MP have reignited the debate around the alleged breach of personal data of common people through Aadhaar cards. In October last year, a US based firm ‘Resecurity’ had published a report saying that personal data of around 81.5 crore Indians including Aaadhaar numbers and passport details had been leaked on the dark web.
Following the report, the Delhi Police had in December last year arrested four accused in the case for allegedly leaking personal data of people on the dark web.
TMC MP’s CoWin Bombshell: TMC MP Saket Gokhale, who has been critical of the PM Modi led BJP government in July last year alleged that the Covid-19 vaccination tracking platform CoWin had been breached which had leaked personal data senior political leaders on the social media application Telegram.