'Undeclared emergency' in India under BJP rule: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday lashed out at the Centre for its order to give central agencies and the Delhi Police sweeping powers to intercept computers, saying India has been living in a state of "undeclared emergency" ever since the BJP government came to power.

"India has been under undeclared emergency since May 2014. Now, in its last couple of months, the Modi government is crossing all limits by seeking control of even the citizen's computers. Can such curtailment of fundamental rights be tolerated in the world's largest democracy?" Kejriwal tweeted.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Convener's reaction came after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday issued an order giving 10 central agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Delhi Police to "intercept, monitor and decrypt any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer".

The AAP also issued a statement on the matter and called the decision "unconstitutional, undemocratic and a direct attack on citizen's right to privacy".

"The order is in contempt of the Supreme Court's August 2017 verdict declaring privacy being a fundamental right. The Aam Aadmi Party will strongly oppose it in both Houses and will press the government to take it back," the party said in the statement.

The party also dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "detective" who wants to spy on every citizen of the country and look into every house.

"By making these laws, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants to seize the leaders of its opposition party. They are just interested in finding out what are the weaknesses of the opposition leaders and how can they be blackmailed," the party said.

The AAP also alleged that the BJP is misusing government institutions like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), CBI and the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) for its political advantage and that these institutions are on the verge of collapse due to the Central government pressure.

"Today, the situation of the RBI has become so tragic that two successive Governors in the RBI left their position after being troubled by the BJP's dictatorship. The same situation remains in the CBI today. The whole country saw how the CBI officials were fighting under the BJP. The country's most powerful institution stands on the verge of collapse," it said.

--IANS

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