NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi ’s belief that his party would gain politically in UP and Bihar assembly polls if central beneficiary schemes are rolled out using Aadhaar, has prompted him to strongly pitch for the UID scheme he had attacked until a few months ago. The Centre has been prompted to set a target of enrolling all Indians by next March also because of its growing realisation that Aadhaar’s biometric features were a deterrence for terrorists and that it would help Modi’s ambitious ‘Digital India’ plan.ET spoke to multiple officials in the government, home ministry, UIDAI and IB to decipher the BJP government’s new-found love for Aadhaar, since it was a scheme that BJP leaders had threatened to scrap during their poll campaign. Officials are racing towards completing a target what seemed only a dream a few months back — of enrolling all 30 crore people in UP and Bihar in just about a year.“Crucial polls are there in Bihar in mid-2015 and in UP in early-2016. Aadhaar will help the government roll out it schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and Direct Benefits Transfer effectively.Both these states have a history of swindling central grants,” a top government official told ET. Ironically, BJP is cashing in on a UPA decision in February to hand over these two key states to UIDAI for enrolment after the MHA’s National Population Register scheme had only succeeded in enrolling less than 10% of the population in UP and Bihar. The Modi-led Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs endorsed UPA’s decision in September. “Aadhaar enrolments, since March, have covered 8 crore people in UP and Bihar. We are enrolling 15 lakh people every day and hope to cover both states totally by March,” a UIDAI official said.UIDAI has enrolled over 70 crore, covering 90% of population in Delhi and Andhra while NPR has captured only 26 crore people. The subsequent change in heart has been at the home ministry. “Why would a terrorist give his finger-prints, IRIS print and get himself live photographed to get an Aadhaar card? Last week the terror mastermind of the Burdwan plot was arrested, Sajid.He had all conceivable fake identity documents — a Voter I-Card, PAN Card and Driving License but not an Aadhaar card,” a senior MHA official told ET. The mnistry is also impressed by the e-KYC process wherein a person gives his finger-prints on a biometric kiosk which instantly flashes his Aadhaar details.