Row over Sanchar Saathi app | Opposition trashes DoT direction, calls it 'unconstitutional, ridiculous'

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said that the right to privacy is an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and liberty.

The Congress on Tuesday opposed the directions of the Department of Telecommunications on pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app in all new mobile phones as unconstitutional, and demanded its immediate rollback.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra described the app as a "snooping app", adding that it intrudes privacy.

"It is a snooping app. It's ridiculous. Citizens have the right to privacy. Everyone must have the right to privacy to send messages to family, friends, without the government looking at everything."

Further, she accused the government of turning the country into dictatorship.

"They are turning this country into a dictatorship in every form. The parliament is not functioning because the government is refusing to talk about anything. It's very easy to blame the Opposition. They are not allowing any discussion on anything... A healthy democracy demands discussion."

There's a very fine line between reporting fraud and seeing what every citizen of India is doing on their phone. That's not how it should work. There should be an effective system to report fraud. We've discussed this at great length on cybersecurity. There's a need for cybersecurity, but that doesn't mean that it gives you an excuse to go into every citizen's telephone. I don't think any citizen would be happy," Gandhi added.

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal took to X, saying the right to privacy is an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and liberty.

“Big Brother cannot watch us. This DoT direction is beyond unconstitutional. The Right to Privacy is an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and liberty, enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution.

“A pre-loaded government app that cannot be uninstalled is a dystopian tool to monitor every Indian. It is a means to watch over every movement, interaction and decision of each citizen,” Venugopal said in a post on X.

He alleged that the move is part of the long series of "relentless assaults" on the Constitutional rights of Indian citizens, which will not be allowed to continue.

“We reject this direction and demand its immediate rollback,” the Congress leader said.

Venugopal also shared the DoT direction under Telecom Cyber Security Rules, 2024 (as amended), regarding the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app in mobile handsets to check their genuineness.

“All manufacturers and importers of mobile handsets that are intended for use in India shall submit compliance reports to the DoT within 120 days from the issuance of these directions.

“Failure to comply with these directions shall attract action under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, the Telecom Cyber Security Rules, 2024 (as amended), and other applicable laws. These directions shall come into force immediately and shall remain in force until amended or withdrawn by the DoT,” the communique said.

Further, Shashi Tharoor said that such apps could be useful when they are voluntary but is troubling if everyone has to download it.

" I have not studied the issue in full detail, but common sense tells me that these apps can be useful provided they are voluntary. Everybody who needs them should be able to download them. Making anything compulsory in a democracy is troubling. But I need to look a little more into what the logic is of the government."

He added that the government must explain about the logic for the app to the public.

In fact, the government should explain all this to the public instead of just passing an order that the media reports. I think we need to have a discussion where the government explains what their thinking is."