Assam, Meghalaya lagging behind in Aadhaar enrolment: BJP

With Assam and Meghalaya lagging behind in Aadhaar enrolment, BJP today launched a scathing attack against Congress Chief Ministers Tarun Gogoi and Mukul Sangma accusing them of denying delivery of subsidy meant for the poorest of the poor directly in their accounts.
"I was surprised to see reports stating two Congress- ruled states of the North East have the poorest Aadhaar card penetration -- Meghalaya is 3.2 per cent and Assam 2.8 per cent," BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli told reporters here.
He said Assam has a Congress government for 15 years and Meghalaya for almost 10 years.
He also wondered as to why the Aadhaar scheme was not taken up by these two states although it was the Congress who introduced the Bill in Parliament.

Noting that Aadhaar is to deliver subsidy meant for the poorest of the poor directly in their accounts, Kohli said Aadhaar is not a citizen debit card and it has nothing to do with citizenship rights.
Accusing the two Congress chief ministers of talking about the poor but not working for them, Kohli claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has come from poor background, "talks for the poor, plans for the poor, and implements for the poor".

On the opposition from certain quarters in Aadhaar enrolment due to superstitious Christian beliefs, Kohli said, "I think we need to look at it from a merit point of view as there is no religious context to Aadhaar in any sense directly, indirectly or remotely."

He said Aadhaar is only for the benefit of the poor, it is not citizenship right or anything, it is to ensure that subsidy goes to the right person wherever that subsidy is due so that there is no corruption and no leakage.
Claiming that in those states who are adopting it, people are benefiting in a big way, Kohli said people of Meghalaya should also not lose out on those benefits because the money is rightly theirs.