HYDERABAD: AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi slammed the Aadhaar (Amendment) Bill in the Parliament on Thursday. Owaisi pointed out that the Supreme Court has said that private entities cannot be given government data, hence the Bill was simply void. “The Aadhaar Bill shows the ill effects of electoral bonds. Clause 24 violates every Fundamental Right. The government is dancing to the tune of private entities rather than protecting privacy; it’s a marriage between state and corporate. The government doesn’t believe in Jiyo Aur Jeene Do (live and let live) but only in Jio Jio Jio.”
Owaisi claimed the Supreme Court had termed the dissemination of information to private institutions as a ‘vice’, but the government was keen on making it a ‘virtue’. “The Bill says the relevant entity ‘shall’ identify the clients. This erases the ‘voluntariness’ that Bill claims to take into account. The UIDAI can appoint anyone, notwithstanding conflict of interests.
Offline verification would lead to fraud. Clause 8 of the Bill decreases the power of the Parliament. Clauses 5, 5 (7), 6, 2 AA, 11, 12, 18 and 23 violate several judgements of the Supreme Court,” he said. He declared that the Aadhaar Bill is unconstitutional and would be challenged in the Supreme Court.