Rahul Gandhi likens PM Modi to ‘Big Boss’ who spies on Indians, engages in Twitter war with Smriti Irani

New Delhi: The twitter war between the Congress and the ruling BJP escalated on Monday after Congress President Rahul Gandhi likened Prime Minister Modi to “Big Boss’’ who likes to spy on Indians. Both were busy all day accusing each other of sharing user data with foreign agencies without consent.

Pointing out that ‘‘Modi’s NaMo App secretly records audio, video, contacts of friends & family and even tracks your location via GPS,” Rahul tweeted: “He’s the Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians.” “Now he wants data on our children. 13 lakh NCC cadets are being forced to download the App,” he added.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani hit back saying “Rahul Gandhi, even ”Chhota Bheem” (the popular children’s cartoon character) knows that commonly asked permission on Apps does not tantamount to snooping. While those in the BJP said Rahul doesn’t understand the Internet technology, Irani gave a repartee to his Saturday tweet, accusing PM Modi of sending data on NaMo to “friends in America.”

Also Read: Rahul Gandhi accuses Narendra Modi of giving NaMo app user data to US firms

“Now that we’re talking tech, will you care to answer why Congress sends data to Singapore Servers which can be accessed by any Tim, Dick and Analytica,” Irani asked. Within minutes of her tweet, Rahul went more aggressive, asserting that “Modi was misusing PM’s position to build a personal database with data of millions of Indians via the NaMo App promoted by the Govt.”

“If as PM he wants to use tech to communicate with India, no problem. But use the official PMO App for it. This data (on NaMo) belongs to India, not Modi.” Irani took yet another jibe, scoffing at the Congress party for deleting its own App. She was backed by Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP’s IT cell, who tweeted: “Rahul Gandhi gave a call to delete NaMo App, but the Congress deleted its own App instead, after they were called out. What is the Congress party hiding?”

He also conceded that the BJP and PM Modi are indeed sharing information but claimed there was no wrongdoing. “Contrary to Rahul’s lies, the fact is that data is being used for only analytics using third party service, similar to Google Analytics,” he said, while echoing Irani’s charge that the Congress App removed on Monday was sharing the user data with Gandhi’s friends in Singapore.

The INC App that Irani and Malviya said had been dropped is “a membership App that has not been in use for over 5 months,” said Ramya, the head of the Congress social media and digital communication. She also pasted the Congress appeal on her Twitter account: “On a good note, please sign up to be a member of the most honest and vibrant political movement — the Indian National Congress that represents the progressive soul of India. This soul defines who we are…” There was no final word on the issue as the tweets continued to fly thick and fast, many more on Monday and maybe the onslaught may continue unabated for some more days.