New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaramand Infosys co-founderNR Narayana Murthy entered into an intense verbal duel over Aadhaar.

Flaying the Modi government's strident move to get everything linked to this national identification number, Chidamabaram said the "government is completely deaf" to any reasoning against linking Aadhaar to everything under the sun.

Like any other modern country, there is a need to establish individual identities in the form of a driving licence, at the same time ensuring that there is no violation of privacy with such an identification, Murthy said, speaking at IIT-Bombay's annual Mood Indigo festival. 

Chidambaram on the other hand argued that using Aadhaar for every transaction has "serious consequences" that will turn the country into an "Orwellian state", compromising the ideals of a liberal democracy and an open society.

"If a young man and a young woman want to have a private holiday, they may not be married, what's wrong with that? If a young man wants to buy condoms, why should he disclose his Aadhaar or identity?" the former finance minister quipped.

"Why should the state, that is the government, know what medicines I buy, what cinemas I visit, what hotels I stay in, who are my friends?" he asked further.

"If I am in the government, I should resist the temptation to know about all these activities which individual citizens do," he said.

Retorting back, Murthy said, "I disagree with you ... all of the things you talked about are available through Google today."

Chidambaram said he has not linked his bank account with the Aadhaar number and appealed for a pause on linking activities till January 17, when the a five-judge Constitution bench is slated to resume hearing the bunch of petitions on the matter.