Aadhaar 'compulsory' weapon of govt to 'disempower people': Rahul

Congress President Rahul Gandhi today attacked the NDA government over the Aadhaar scheme, dubbing it as a compulsory weapon to "disempower" citizens.

"UPA's Aadhaar = A voluntary instrument to empower citizens.

"NDA's Aadhaar = A compulsory weapon to disempower citizens," he tweeted.

The Congress government, which introduced Aadhaar, is opposing the government's stand that it should be compulsory for receiving the benefits of state-sponsored welfare schemes.

A five-judge Constititution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra today began hearing a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the government's flagship Aadhaar programme and its enabling Act of 2016.

Concerns have been voiced about the massive data collection process under Aadhaar, which has information about more than a billion Indians, over fears that these could be used for identity theft and surveillance by the government.