New Delhi, Dec 3 (UNI) A massive political storm erupted on Wednesday as the Congress party launched a blistering attack on the BJP-led government over the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) directive mandating the pre-installation of the ‘Sanchar Saathi’ app on all new mobile phones.
Congress leader Pawan Khera, Chairman of Media and Publicity for the AICC, held a press conference, calling the move an “Orwellian intrusion” and directly contradicting the Communications Minister’s assurance that the App was “optional and removable.”
Khera initiated the offensive by directly challenging the government’s recent public clarification, which attempted to assuage privacy concerns.
“The BJP government has been brazenly snooping on citizens, but when caught red-handed this time, it attempted to mislead the entire nation with a false and deceptive ‘clarification.’ Their Communications Minister confidently claimed that the Sanchar Saathi app can be deleted, a statement that collapses instantly under the weight of the government’s own direction, where Section 7(b) categorically states that the pre-installed app cannot be removed, nor can any of its ‘functionalities be disabled or restricted’,” Khera stated.
He further termed the government’s defence a “blatant lie” and an attempt to “cover up an unconstitutional order by feeding misinformation to 140 crore Indians.”
The Congress spokesperson framed the mandatory pre-installation as a fundamental violation of the Right to Privacy, a right affirmed by the Supreme Court.
“This is not a clarification; it is a blatant lie… In the BJP’s dictionary, the meaning of IT is no longer ‘Information Technology’; it stands for ‘Identity Theft.’ The recent diktat forcing all smartphone manufacturers and importers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi App on every new device is a blatant assault on the Fundamental Right to Privacy and a chilling attempt to normalise mass surveillance,” he asserted, adding that the App compromises personal data and infiltrates the “most intimate aspects of citizens’ lives.”
Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has however strongly denied allegations that the government-backed Sanchar Saathi App enables snooping. Responding in the Lok Sabha, Scindia said the App cannot monitor anyone and activates only when a user registers. Reiterating his stance, he said, snooping is neither possible nor will it ever happen through the App. His clarification comes amid a rising political debate after the government asked phone manufacturers to pre-install the App, prompting opposition concerns over privacy and data security.
Khera went on to accuse the government of wielding the App as a “dangerous instrument” that can be weaponised to track location, collect device data, monitor browsing habits, and siphon communications metadata, all without the user’s consent.
Khera also widened his critique to include the new government diktat that requires communication platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram to always tie user accounts to an active SIM and log out web sessions every six hours.
“This suffocating measure turns every message, every conversation, every login into a state-monitored activity,” he said. He argued that the government was “punishing 80 crore digital users to expand its surveillance grid” instead of fixing flaws in its own telecom KYC system. “This is not cybersecurity; this is state overreach masquerading as law and order.”
Demanding its immediate withdrawal Khera said: “The people of India will not allow their privacy, autonomy, and freedom to be violated under the pretext of governance.”
