Congress questions Modi govt over reported move to replace Aadhaar with voter ID

The Congress has criticised the Centre over reported remarks by Panchayati Raj Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh that voter ID would replace Aadhaar for welfare benefits. Jairam Ramesh alleged the move could further exclude people from social welfare schemes

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday attacked the Centre over Panchayati Raj Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh’s reported remarks that voter ID cards would replace Aadhaar for identifying beneficiaries of social welfare programmes, saying that “vote chori” was just the trailer and the full picture was “haq-huqooq (rights) chori”.

Rajiv Ranjan Singh, alias Lallan Singh, reportedly said that access to financial benefits and welfare payments under schemes of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj would now require an Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number along with mandatory biometric authentication.

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Reacting to his remarks, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said, “Over the past few days, the Union Minister of Panchayati Raj has said, not once but twice, that Voter ID will replace Aadhaar for identifying beneficiaries of social welfare programmes. Is this now official Modi govt policy?”

“If indeed it is, then it means that Aadhaar will not be used for the primary purpose for which it was conceived and intended,” he said.

There have been legitimate concerns that the way Aadhaar has been used has resulted in lakhs of people being denied access to social welfare and security schemes, Ramesh said.

“Making SIR the basis will end up excluding even more people on a massive scale,” he said.

“‘Vote Chori’ is just the trailer. The full picture is haq-huqooq chori,” Ramesh added.