Opposition leaders expressed their disagreement with the government’s new surveillance order, which authorises 10 central agencies to monitor all computers.
“This is a serious development. Through this order BJP is converting India into a surveillance state,” said Congress leader Anand Sharma outside the Parliament House on Friday, December 21, 2018. “The government has done it by stealth. We collectively oppose it. Right to privacy is a fundamental right. The order directly hits at this fundamental right.”
The Congress is supported by the Samajwadi Party, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Trinamool Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
“We have two spies at the helm who wants to peep into our bedrooms. They can lynch us anywhere. It is not an ordinary order. It is anti-democratic and hits out at personal privacy,” said Mr. Sharma, a Rajya Sabha member.
“They want to covert India into an Orwellian state. This is a threat to media too. I would like to tell the 2 1/2 syndicate (Amit Shah, Narendra Modi) who is ruling right now, you are sitting in the departure lounge,” he said.