‘Will Scrap Aadhaar, Revive National Population Registry’

BJP national general secretary H N Ananth Kumar on Saturday said the party will revive the NDA government’s proposal to set up a National Population Registry if it comes to power at the Centre.

After releasing the party manifesto for Bangalore city, he told reporters that Aadhaar may become a threat to national security.

He said the UPA government abandoned NDA’s  plan to set up a National Citizens Register and issue every resident a citizenship card. However, it introduced the Aadhaar project and entrusted it to two American companies which were blacklisted by the US government for violating norms of due diligence in running the business.

“If our party comes back to power at the Centre, we will not only scrap the Unique Identification Authority of India, but also initiate criminal proceedings against those who were responsible for the scheme in which large amount of public money was misused,” he said.

Stating that Aadhaar has no validity following the Supreme Court’s observations, he said cases can be booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act as large amount of money has been released for the scheme without any legislative or parliamentary sanction.

In the present system, anyone, including migrants from Bangladesh, can get Aadhaar cards, he said adding this is certainly a threat to national security. Ananth Kumar, who is locked in an electoral battle with Congress candidate and architect of Aadhaar Nandan Nilakeni, said BJP had opposed the scheme way back in 2010.

Expressing confidence of clinching the Bangalore South seat, he said people have witnessed the BJP's deeds for the last 18 years unlike the Congress candidate who dropped down from the sky a couple of weeks back.