The Congress and the BJP on Friday continued to spar publicly levelling ‘you love China’ allegations against each other.
The Congress on Friday maintained its pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the “Chinese incursion” by directly attacking him besides the BJP for just crafting an image and spending millions of rupees to win elections. The party also questioned the influence China wields on Indian establishments and why the BJP took Beijing’s help in the Lok Sabha elections by sharing vital data of Indian citizens with it.
The Congress said Modi’s love for China is now visible to the world and this dates back to his tenure as the Gujarat Chief Minister in Gujarat. The party also quipped that foreign policy does not mean that the Prime Minister is constantly on aeroplane mode.
Why did you compromise the data security and privacy of crores of Indians by involving Chinese companies linked to the PLA,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said at the AICC press conference.
The party shared documents about BJP having partnered with those Chinese companies who have now been banned by the Government for their links with the Chinese establishment.
“UC Web Mobile got banned in July this year. In 2019, according to the expenditure report submitted by the BJP to the Election Commission, they hired this very company to run their campaign. It is the same Alibaba-owned company – UC Web Browser – which was also red- flagged by the Modi govt in 2017 for sending crucial data of Indians to China. What was the compulsion of involving the same company for elections which you had red flagged two years ago,” Khera questioned.
There is another company called Gamma Gaana Limited (Tencent of China). Po Shu Yueng, one of the directors of this company is also the director in 10c India pvt ltd. Gamma Gaana Ltd is funded by Tencent. Last month, the government banned it saying the company was directly connected with the PLA. This company too was used by the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress alleged.
According to the Congress, the third company called ShareIT Technology has an app called ShareIT. It was banned by the Government last month for being a threat to the ‘sovereignty and integrity of India’ but it was also hired by the BJP in elections last year, the Congress charged.
“Our Prime Minister crafted an image for himself – an image of a leader who before 2014, roared on issues of border security. Several companies were roped in, spending crores of rupees to create this image of Modi. The investment paid off and Modi and his party got substantial electoral gains too. But today, we see the same man running for cover when it comes to the issue of Chinese incursions into Indian territory,” the party said in a statement a day after former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi accused the PM of lying on the issue.