Govt collaborating with US in snooping activities: CPI(M)

The CPI(M) today charged the government with collaborating with the United States in its electronic snooping activities in India and sought immediate closure of the facilities provided to it in the country.

'The latest disclosures in the documents provided by American whistleblower Edward Snowden show that the Indian government is collaborating with the United States of America in its electronic surveillance in India,' the party Politburo said in a statement.

It said the US has 'installed some 700 servers in 150 locations around the world, one of which is near New Delhi, as part of a hitherto undisclosed programme called 'Xkeyscore',' under which electronic snooping is undertaken by the US National Security Agency.

'The programme is meant for searching through the vast database containing emails, online chats and browsing histories of millions of individuals,' the CPI(M) said.

Maintaining that the government had earlier justified this snooping in the name of tracking terrorist activity, it said 'now it is clear that this justificatory statement was made because the Government of India itself is a collaborating partner in the global spy network of the US, which undermines the sovereignty of India. The CPI(M) deplores this action of the government.'

It said External Affairs Minister had earlier gone 'so far as to say that it is not snooping but only an analysis of the pattern of calls.'

It demanded that the Manmohan Singh government forthwith stop collaborating with the United States in its snooping on Indian citizens and close down the electronic surveillance facilities provided to it in India.