KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee launched a fresh salvo at the Centre saying she won't link her Aadhaar number with her phone number and dared the Centre to disconnect her number for disobedience.
Speaking at an extended core committee meeting of Trinamool Congress MPs, MLAs, civic body chiefs and zilla sabhadhipatis -- convened to decide the road map for 2018 rural polls -- at Nazrul Manch here on Wednesday, the party chief urged 3,000 party leaders and workers to follow her steps and not link Aadhaar with phone number.
"I will not link my Aadhaar with my telephone number under any circumstance. If the Centre disconnects my phone, let them do it. I urge you to do the same. How many telephone connections will they disconnect?" she said.
By asking to openly defy the Centre's rule on linking Aadhaar with telephone number, the West Bengal chief minister has stoked a political controversy where already Aadhaar is seen as a tool to snoop and control the masses.
“What does BJP want? Do they want to listen to people’s secrets. It’s a direct attack on privacy," she added.
Describing the rule linking Aadhaar with phone number as an attack on privacy, she said: "I am not bound to make all my personal conversations public. After you link Aadhaar with your phone, even personal conversations between husband and wife will reach the BJP office. We are taking up the issue in and out of the Parliament. If need be, we may fight it legally too."
Alleging that the BJP was using central agencies since assuming power at the Centre, Banerjee said, "But it will boomerang on them when they will be out of power".
The TMC chief also charged the Modi government with snatching away the freedom of the press and alleged that if any news organisation dared to speak against it, they were harassed.
"The ED, CBI and Income Tax departments will be used to harass them (news organisations)," she said.
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