Safety is an excuse, the target is privacy: Congress on Sanchar Saathi app
The central government has now decided not to make the Sanchar Saathi application pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers
The Congress on Wednesday criticised the government’s proposed move to install the ‘Sanchar Saathi’ mobile application, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) Centre of attempting to create “a surveillance state” through what it described as an intrusion into citizens’ private lives.
“Safety is an excuse, the target is privacy,” said Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera during a press conference in New Delhi, alleging that the move amounted to a systematic breach of privacy by the Union government.
Meanwhile, the central government has decided not to make the Sanchar Saathi application pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers.
Before the government’s decision, the Congress, earlier in the day, alleged that the government had ordered that “on every Indian smartphone… this app called Sanchar Saathi will be pre-loaded. It cannot be hidden, it cannot be deleted”.
Raising broader concerns, the Congress leader argued that the move would give authorities access to citizens’ personal financial transactions, photographs, and private messages, stating that “a copy of everything, two spies will get it from you.” He questioned why such access was necessary and alleged that the government sought to intrude into citizens’ lives.
Also Read: ‘Snooping with Sanchar Saathi app neither possible, nor will it happen’: Scindia
The current controversy around the app stems from clause 7(b) of the November 28 directive, which says the app’s “functionalities are not disabled or restricted.”
DoT officials clarified that this applies only to manufacturers, ensuring they don’t preload a hidden or non-functional app, and does not prevent users from uninstalling it.
DoT officials clarified to HT on Tuesday that the app accesses only limited data with explicit user consent, like basic permissions for registration and optional advanced permissions for features like handset verification or reporting fraud. It does not access contacts, location, microphone, Bluetooth, other apps or any private data, and DoT says it neither enables surveillance nor harvests data.
