New Delhi: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Friday dubbed the Union government’s flagship Aadhaar legislation as an ‘evil’ and said that it will harm the country.
Speaking on behalf of the party in the Lok Sabha, BJD MP Tathagata Satpathy said that claiming Aadhaar an identity is a wrong notion that is being fed to the country, as it is simply a tool for authentication.
“It doesn’t give you any identity. It’s a misconception,” said Satpathy.
Criticising the government for making the life of poor people deplorable, the BJD legislator asked whether this government is focused on encouraging the business class or it intends to create an atmosphere where the average citizen can feel that the government is not denying them their basic rights.
“A poor person has to produce an Aadhaar even to be admitted to a hospital. There are cases in some states wherein pregnant women have been denied hospitalisation because they did not have Aadhaar!” Satapathy said
He also rejected the claims of the government that Aadhar has improved lives of the people and rescued them from the clutches of middlemen.
“Things have improved because people are aware and they recognise when the middle man cheats them,” Satpathy said.
“When government agents are not available and there are no banks in the area, it is the middleman who gives funds to the farmers at huge risk, because it is the middle man who suffers when there is a crop failure,” the Dhenkanal MP said.
Satpathy alleged that UIDAI official are working for start-ups and helping private companies.
“We are, on the one hand, giving them authority to decide what to do and, on the other hand, they are also getting the authority to decide how to work,” he added.