By-Manish Kumar
New Delhi, April 21: The grilling of the NDA government by the Supreme Court
Friday over making Aadhar mandatory against the will of the apex court seemed
to validate the stance of the BJD which it had been taking in the Parliament
against Aadhar, at least for the party MPs. The observation by the apex court is likely to emobolden the party MPs who raised their concerns on the issue. It is likely that they will use this case to buttress their points in the Parliament in future whenever the issue of Aadhar will come for discussion.
The BJD MPs in the recent two
sessions had been strongly opposing the NDA government’s intention to make
Aadhar mandatory for Indian citizens for several government schemes. Several
party MPs in the recently-concluded Budget session had expressed their
reservations on the issue and had criticized the government on the front.
Many MPs had claimed it had been
depriving the people from important government services. During the HIV and
AIDS bill debate in the Lok Sabha, Aska MP Ladu Kishore Swain had said, “There
have been reported cases where the government is allegedly seeking the Aadhar
details of the HIV patients which had led to many patients opting out of the
treatment through the ART centres,” Swain said.
BJD’s Chief Whip Tathagata Satpathy
while debating on the Statistics Collection (Amendment) Bill 2017 in the Lower
House in the Budget Sesson had said, “The government is forcing Aadhar to the
citizens of the country and infact arbitrarily and illegally imposing it on us.
Such private data are likely to land up in the hands of the bureaucrats and
other agencies are likely to be misused.”
“We need to understand that privacy
is of utmost importance in the modern world. I have been opposing the use of
Aadhar since the idea was mooted during the UPA government. It is a deadly
thing and has been unknowingly dumping it with unknown individu,” he had said.
Similarly, Cuttack MP Bhartruhari
Mahtab while raising the concern had said, “You (Centre) are forcing the
citizens of the country to have Aadhar which is still being disputed in the
Supreme Court. This is a point of concern.”
However against the reservations of
the BJD MPs, the NDA government seemed to be defiant on the issue.
Interestingly, when Mahtab raised the issue in the Lower House, Union finance
minister in response to Mahtab said, “Yes we are (forcing Aadhar).”
On many fronts, BJD MPs have
strongly opposed to the idea of making Aadhar mandatory and even termed it
illegal. The stand taken by the SC Friday is only likely to bolester the party
and likely to boost their opposition with the shielding of the apex court
order.
