NaMo App Row: Congress Attacks BJP as Data Leak War Intensifies

Congress hit out at the ruling party, alleging that the BJP government has compromised data of Indian citizens.

Abhishek Singhvi spokesperson said that not only is people’s money unsafe, their identity is at stake as well with all the data leaks surfacing.

(Photo: ANI)

Alleging that the BJP government has compromised data of Indian citizens, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi on 26 March, hit out at the ruling party over reports of data being leaked through Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s smartphone application.

Taking to Twitter earlier in the day, Congress President Rahul Gandhi claimed that the NaMo app “secretly recorded” data, including audio, video, and contact details. Gandhi also labelled Modi as the ‘Big Boss’ who “liked to spy on Indians”.

In a retaliatory tweet, I&B Minister Smriti Irani mocked the Congress president for deleting his party’s official app from the Google Play Store.

The Congress party, however, clarified that the app was deleted from the Play Store as the wrong URL was being circulated and people were being misled.

Divya Spandana, head of Congress’ social media team, also took to Twitter to clarify that the deletion of the party’s app was due to a defunct URL.

At a press conference in Delhi, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi attacked the government over repeated cases of data leaks and said “if data is not safe, how can money be safe in banks.”

Singhvi said that in April 2014, then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi had criticised the Aadhaar system for posing security threats but his own government has not been able to secure Aadhaar data.

The BJP on Sunday, 25 March, had denied Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s allegations that Modi had leaked user data from the NaMo app to US firms, saying that the app didn’t ask for blanket permissions when started and “even allows access to users in guest mode without any permission for data.”

Accusing the prime minister of handing over the data of users on his application to private US companies, Gandhi referred to allegations levelled by a French vigilante hacker who said that personal data, including email IDs, photos, names, and other details of users of Modi's mobile app, were being sent to a third-party domain without their consent.