Attack on people's privacy, may move court: Singhvi on MHA

Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi Friday condemned the Centre's move to authorise 10 central agencies to intercept "any information" on computers and indicated that the party may move court against the MHA order.

This is a direct attack on privacy of the people, he said adding that since independence, the country has never seen such an attempt to infiltrate into people's privacy.

"We condemn this move to snoop on people of this country. We will oppose it and if needed we will fight it in the court also," Singhvi told a press conference here.

"The BJP government is converting India into a surveillance state through the order. It is the ultimate assault on fundamental rights and the right to privacy," he said.

The order authorises 10 Central agencies such as the Intelligence Bureau, the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to intercept, monitor, and decrypt "any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer".

Singhvi, while speaking on the Rafale fight jet issue, said the BJP has misled the Supreme Court and only a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) can expose the web of lies of the BJP.

"Why is the BJP afraid to conduct a JPC into the issue? Are they afraid that they might be caught?," he asked.

The Supreme Court on December 14 gave the Narendra Modi government a clean chit on the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France and dismissed all the petitions seeking direction to the CBI to register an FIR for alleged irregularities in the deal.

The Congress has repeatedly criticised the deal for the 36 Rafale jets, alleging that the government was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 1,670 crore as against Rs 526 crore finalised by the UPA government.

The Congress has been demanding a probe by a JPC to the deal while the government has denied any irregularity in the deal.