FACEBOOK DATA THEFT TURNS BJP-CONG SPAT Mark Zuckerberg can be summoned, says IT Minister

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday created a sensation, alleging that the Congress has hired a London-headquartered company, Cambridge Analytica, for Facebook data theft to manipulate and win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Cambridge Analytica specializes in identifying the personalities of voters and also influence their behaviour. The company allegedly had a role to play in the 2016 US presidential election and harvested 50 million Facebook users’ data without their consent. IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has questioned if Congress party had any ties to the company, a charge that the latter has denied.

Prasad also issued a stern warning to social media platforms like Facebook of "strong action" if they do not prevent any attempt to influence the country's electoral process. "We will not allow misuse of data to compromise our poll propriety," he declared.

"In the wake of the recent data theft from Facebook, let my stern warning be heard across the Atlantic, far away in California," Prasad said. "Mr Mark Zuckerberg, you better note the observation of the IT Minister of India. We welcome that the Facebook profile in India is the best in the world. But if any data theft of Indians is done with the collusion of the Facebook system, this shall not be tolerated. We have got stringent power under the IT Act. We shall use it, including power to summon you in India," the minister said.

Hours later, BJP spokesman Samhit

Patra went on to threaten the Congress with an inquiry the government was initiating, even while the Congress hit back denying hiring of the British data analytics firm.

"A false agenda and a white lie being dished out by the lawless law minister," Congress chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala asserted describing Prasad's claim as "one more fake product by the BJP's factory of fake news."

Prasad even tried to suggest that economist Pravin Chakrabarty, roped in by

Rahul on February 5 as the party's Chief of Data Analytics, may be involved in the data theft as there are serious issues of data impropriety pending against his former employer Thomas Wiesel in the United States.

Asserting that the Congress had nothing to do with British firm Cambridge Analytica as alleged by the law minister, Surjewala said the truth is that this firm's services were availed of by the BJP and the Janata Dal (United) in 2010;

likewise, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had in 2009 used the services of the firm's Indian partner Ovleno Business Intelligence, allegedly run by the son of a BJP ally's MP.

Surjewala wondered if Prasad has inadvertently exposed the BJP and PM Modi in the allegations he sought to make against the Congress. Referring to the achievements listed in the Linkedin profile of OBI's vice-president Himanshu Sharma, he read out: "Managed four election campaigns successfully for the ruling BJP. Achieved target of 272+ by managing call center management project profiling each and every volunteer supporter .... Data base provided constituency wise to BJP candidates as an additional support for national elections and the state elections of Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi."

OBI is headed by Amrish Tyagi, son of former Rajya Sabha MP K C Tyagi of the Janata Dal (U).

The Law Minister was, however, definite that Rahul Gandhi had met Analytica’s now sacked CEO Alexander Nix, who has been accused of the Facebook data theft. The minister wanted to know how much stolen data of Indians was in possession of the Congress.

Prasad insisted that Nix had met not only Rahul but several opposition leaders to devise the electoral strategy for the UPA in the next Lok Sabha elections; he further warned the Congress that the nation will not tolerate it if the party uses the online data of crores of Indian Facebook users to manipulate the elections. Surjewala, however, went on record that "Indian National Congress or the Congress President has never used or hired the services of a company called Cambridge Analytica."

In a rebuttal, BJP spokesman Patra said the truth will come out in the inquiry that may even debar the Congress from contesting elections. He cited Law Minister Prasad's statement earlier in the day: "We are in touch with the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice in the US to assess the privacy violations of Indian users. We will also summon the company and Facebook CEO to assess the data theft of Indian users and will take strict action."

On Prasad insisting that the Congress used data acquired through illegal means in the Gujarat Assembly elections and now in Karnataka, Surjewala said what then stops the law minister from putting behind bar all those doing these illegalities.