BJP, Congress continue fierce App war of words
NEW DELHI: The war of words between the Congress and the BJP on data sharing spiralled on Monday with Rahul Gandhi dubbing Prime Minister Narendra Modi the “Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians” and Union minister Smriti Irani saying even ‘Chhota Bheem’ knows it is not snooping. Twitter was the battleground as the debate on the prickly issue escalated and the ruling BJP accused the Opposition Congress of data “theft”.
Taking to Twitter after allegations surfaced that data from the Prime Minister’s app was being shared without the consent of users, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the Prime Minister was misusing his position and the Namo app secretly recorded audio, video and contacts. “Modi’s Namo App secretly records audio, video, contacts of your friends and family and even tracks your location via GPS. He’s the Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians.
“Now he wants data on our children. 13 lakh NCC cadets are being forced to download the APP,” Gandhi said on Twitter using the hashtag “Deletenamoapp”. He added that Modi was misusing his position to build a personal database with data on millions of Indians via the Namo App promoted by the government.
“If as PM he wants to use tech to communicate with India, no problem. But use the official PMO APP for it. This data belongs to India, not Modi,” Gandhi said.
Irani hit back with a series of derisive tweets, saying that Gandhi now knows what the NCC is thanks to the Namo app. “RahulGandhi ji, even ‘Chhota Bheem’ knows that commonly asked permission on Apps don’t tantamount to snooping,” she said, recalling the character from the animated series for children.
“Now that we’re talking tech, would you care to answer @Rahulgandhi ji why Congress sends data to Singapore Servers which can be accessed by any Tom, Dick and Analytica?” the information and broadcasting minister added. BJP IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya echoed Irani, saying that the Congress app was sharing user data with Gandhi’s friends in Singapore.
“Hi! My name is Rahul Gandhi. I am the President of India’s oldest political party. When you sign up for our official App, I give all your data to my friends in Singapore,” Malviya said, mimicking Gandhi’s Sunday tweet. “Full marks to Congress for stating upfront that they’ll give your data to **practically anyone** — undisclosed vendors, unknown volunteers, even ‘groups with similar causes’. In theft of all forms, Congress has never been discreet!” Malviya tweeted.