Taking a belligerent stance on the issue of linking of Aadhaar number to mobile numbers of all service providers, West Bengal chief-minister Mamata Banerjee has said that she would never do so, even if it resulted in her number getting disconnected by the respective service provider.

Centre has been urging people to use Aadhaar card number to derive benefits from its various welfare schemes. It has now urged people to link their Aadhaar numbers with their respective mobile numbers (of all service providers) so as to ensure that SIM cards in their respective mobile phones are not misused by miscreants, anti-social elements or terrorists.

Centre made an announcement in this regard in March this year and it is now said that people across the country have been given time till 31st March next year to link Aadhaar numbers with their mobile numbers. While taking part in a public meeting in Kolkata, Mamata said that she would never fall in line with Centre’s above-said diktat to link her Aadhaar number with her mobile phone number.

“I shall never do so (linking Aadhaar number with mobile phone number); insisting to do so will amount to an attack on a person’s individual liberty. I appeal to people too to join me in this crusade and not fall in line with the Centre’s diktat.  If you do so, even private conversations between a wife and a husband could be heard by others, ridding you of your privacy.

“There are certain things which can’t be discussed in public and that’s why we use cell-phones; the Centre should not impose such diktats on people,” Mamata said while taking the ruling BJP at the Centre to task for its policies and anti-people measures.