Mamata writes to PM Modi over sudden deactivation' of Aadhaar cards in Bengal

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking to know the reasons behind the "sudden deactivation" of Aadhaar cards that has caused a "hue and cry" among people in the state.

She also asserted that such a "deactivation" exercise was against regulations and in gross violation of natural justice.

"I wish to bring to your kind notice a sudden development of the serious nature of indiscriminate deactivation of Aadhaar Cards of the people, especially those belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBC communities in West Bengal," Banerjee said in a letter to Modi.

"I would like to know the causes for such sudden deactivation of Aadhaar cards without assigning reasons. Is it to deprive beneficiaries of benefits or to create a panic situation among people before LS polls?" she said.

The chief minister claimed that the head office of Unique Identification Authority of India in New Delhi was directly issuing deactivation letters to individuals and family members without any field inquiry or taking the state into confidence.

"The present development has created chaos and hue and cry among the residents of the state, as a large number of people are approaching the district administration for redressal of their grievances," she said in the letter.