GOVT USING CA DATA THEFT TO HIDE FROM IRAQ DEATHS: RAHUL

Congress president Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the government on Thursday, accusing it of fabricating his party’s link to a British data firm to divert attention from the death of 39 Indians in Iraq.

The government had on Wednesday accused the Congress of engaging Cambridge Analytica for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The British firm is accused of illegally harvesting personal data of more than 50 million Facebook users to sway elections, including that of US President Donald Trump in 2016.

“Problem: 39 Indians dead; Govt on the mat, caught lying. Solution: Invent story on Congress & Data Theft,” Gandhi tweeted, adding media was debating the CA story and 39 dead Indians were off the radar.

The Congress has accused the government of delaying anno– uncement of death of the Indian workers who were kidnapped in Mosul four years ago and giving false hope to the families.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had told Parliament on Tuesday that the 39 Indians who were kidnapped by Islamic State in June 2014 in Mosul in northern Iraq were dead. They were gunned down by the IS and their bodies were found in a mass grave in Badush, which is around 50km from Mosul.

The Congress also said it was unpardonable and insensitive that the government announced the deaths in Parliament without informing the families first. The government has said it was following protocol.

NEW DELHI: