Trinamool Congress MP Arpita Ghosh while raising the question of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) (read in context with Assam) in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday stated that the Government is using Aadhaar to collect data of the common man for surveillance, and now the NRC is being used to exclude millions of people.
A full-blown political row has erupted ever since the final draft of Assam’s NRC was published on Monday. The draft list incorporated the names of nearly 2.89 crore individuals out of the 3.29 crore applicants, leaving out more than 40 lakh applicants from the final draft.
A report in the The Indian Express quoted Arpita as saying, “Can’t the (present) Government make a law to include those 40 lakh people? What is Parliament for? If the Government wanted, it could always have said that from now on we will not include anyone.”
The report further stated that Aprita labelled the Modi Government as being “fascist” and said, “Because this is the height of fascism. Fascism is nothing but surveillance and exclusion of people. Let’s say half of the 40 lakh people are included later. But that would still mean 20 lakh people just ceasing to exist as per Government records. Where will they go? These are people who had voted even in the last elections. Now you say they should be out just because they do not vote for you?”
The Trinamool Congress MP on being asked how Aadhaar fits into the entire NRC issue shot back, “It is a tool for surveillance. Why do they need all data? If they (Government) want to keep an eye on someone, they should keep an eye on the likes of Nirav Modi and other thieves, not the common man who is not doing anything illegal. Why should I give out my Aadhaar number for mutual funds, mobile phones, and so forth, to private companies? Why do you need the data, if not for surveillance?”