Cong., BJP renew tweet war

The Twitter war between the Congress and the BJP over allegations of data leak continued on Monday, with cartoon characters and popular TV shows appearing in the fight.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi started, describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians.”

Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani responded with a jibe that even Chhota Bheem, a cartoon character, knew that “commonly asked permission on Apps don’t tantamount to snooping.”

‘Secret recording’

A day after alleging that personal information of users of the Narendra Modi (NaMo) mobile app were shared with American companies, Mr. Gandhi made serious allegations that the app secretly recorded audio and video. The BJP’s IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya hit back saying it was his party’s app that was sharing user data with his friends in Singapore.

Mr. Malviya said the Congress had taken off its app after the allegations came out in the open.

The Congress, however, claimed the site was “dysfunctional” and all memberships were done through the official website.

“Modi’s NaMo App secretly records audio, video, contacts of your friends and family and even tracks your location via GPS. 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,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted, using the hashtag #DeleteNaMoApp.

Mr. Malviya posted a screenshot on Twitter, where he claimed the Congress had taken down its WithINC app after being called out on data leaks. “Hi! My name is Rahul Gandhi. I am the President of India’s oldest political party. When you sign up for our official App, I give all your data to my friends in Singapore,” said Mr. Malviya, mimicking what the Congress chief had alleged of the NaMo app on Sunday.

Denying the allegation, Congress’s IT head Divya Spandana said the membership app that her counterpart in the BJP talked about had been “defunct” for the past five months as the party moved to a new app.