Even as the Lok Sabha passed the new Aadhaar Bill on Friday, the Opposition, joined by AIADMK and Biju Janata Dal, wanted greater scrutiny and asked for it to be referred to the Standing Committee. BJD even expressed concern over “misuse of data” its use as a tool for ‘mass surveillance.”
While Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of moving it as a money Bill to bypass the Rajya Sabha, BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab questioned the government for its “hurry” to pass the Bill.
“Both the UPA and NDA have been in favour of the Bill. The earlier Bill went to two standing committees. My only concern is that do citizens have any option now. It should be sent to the Standing Committee?” said Mahtab.
AIADMK House leader P Venugopal also demanded that “with only three working days left” the Bill, which was being taken up for discussion on a Friday, should be sent to the Standing Committee.
However, the Speaker Sumitra Mahajan did not agree with the Opposition and allowed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to proceed.
In his intervention, Congress Member Rajiv Satav accused the NDA government of doing ‘U-turns’ on its stance, first in the case of MGNREGA and then with Aadhaar. “The Prime Minister said Rajya Sabha was the ‘House of Ideas’, why then are you then bypassing it,” he said. He also expressed concerns over privacy issues, as the Bill allows private agencies to use the Aadhaar numbers.
BJD’s Tathagata Satapathy opposed the Bill in its entirety, adding that “it is not a money Bill. Full stop…. You have brought it in when Budget discussions are on.”
He said the Bill was being “showcased as one for delivering subsidies but can be used as a tool for mass surveillance” to target any individual or political party or for ethnic cleansing, as it collects not only biometric, but also biological data.
“When anyone can break into the US system, what will happen in India where all biometric data like fingerprints, iris scan, photographs of Indian people is being stored. We cannot forget (Edward) Snowden", he said, adding that there are multiple layering of cards in India, such as voter ID card, BPL, APL, PAN etc which can be streamlined instead, if we are really concerned about the poor.