With the Supreme Court asking the the Centre whether it wants to tap citizens’ WhatsApp messages as it will be like “becoming a surveillance state”, the Congress on Saturday latched onto it to claim that the apex court had “put a stamp” on its reservations over the Government’s move to create a social media hub.
Congress’s communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said in a tweet that on June 1 the Congress had raised the “serious issue” of the Modi Government acting as a ‘surveillance state’ by setting up a ‘Social Media Communication Hub’ that “will be a tool by BJP to snoop on citizens”.
“July 13: SC puts a stamp on our reservations,” he said on Twitter. Surjewala also tagged a statement issued by Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi on June 1 in which he had accused the Modi Government of trying to invade the privacy of every individual in the country by creating a social media hub.
“Does the Government want to tap its citizens’ WhatsApp messagesIJ It will be like creating a surveillance state,” the apex court Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud had said while hearing a PIl filed by a Trinamool Congress legislator from West Bengal.
The Bench sought the Centre’s response on the plea by TMC MlA Mahua Moitra and also asked for Attorney General K K Venugopal’s assistance in the matter.
In May this year, the Broadcast Engineering Consultants India limited (BECIl), a Public Sector Undertaking under the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, had floated a tender to supply a software for the project.