Won't link Aadhaar to SIM, let them disconnect my number: Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said she is ready to lose her mobile phone connection but won't link it to her Aadhaar card.

"Under no circumstances will I link my Aadhaar with my telephone number. If the authorities disconnect my phone, let them do it," Mamata said while speaking at the core committee meeting of her Trinamool Congress party in Kolkata.

Urging people to follow the suit, Mamata alleged that linking phone to Aadhaar is a ploy to breach people's privacy.

"I would urge you to protest in a similar manner. How many telephone connections will they disconnect? What does Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) want? Do they want to listen to people's secrets? It's a direct attack on privacy," she said.

Department of Telecom (DoT) has called for linking of mobile numbers with Aadhaar but the West Bengal Chief Minister has been a vociferous critic of attaching the unique identification number with the government schemes, raising questions over privacy.