Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday congratulated the NIA for busting an alleged terror plot in New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday lauded the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for busting an alleged Islamic State terror plot in New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh but also took the opportunity to take potshots at the Opposition, who has been demanding the withdrawal of a recent Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notification authorising investigative agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt information stored in any computer.
Taking to Twitter, the minister defended the “snooping” order and asked if the crackdown on the terror module would have been possible without “interception of electronic communications”.
“Well done for cracking the dangerous terrorist module,” Jaitley said. He added, “Would this crackdown of the terrorist module by NIA have been possible without interception of electronic communications?”
Would this crackdown of the terrorist module by NIA have been possible without interception of electronic communications?
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 27, 2018
Hitting out at Congress for accusing the Centre of “snooping on citizens” and saying “George Orwell is around the corner”, the Union minister said, “Were the maximum intercepts done during the UPA Government? Surely George Orwell was not born in May, 2014.”
Were the maximum intercepts done during the UPA Government? Surely George Orwell was not born in May, 2014.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 27, 2018
Jaitley was responding to veteran Congress leader P Chidambaram’s earlier attack on the Narendra Modi government in which the latter said, “If anybody is going to monitor the computer, including your computer, that is the Orwellian state. George Orwell is around the corner. It is condemnable.”
Stating that “National security and sovereignty are paramount,” the minister added, “Life and personal liberty will survive only in a strong democratic nation – not in a terrorist dominated State.”
National security and sovereignty are paramount. Life and personal liberty will survive only in a strong democratic nation – not in a terrorist dominated State.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 27, 2018
On Wednesday, 10 people were arrested by the NIA after intense raids were conducted in their houses in 17 locations across the two states for allegedly being part of a module of the IS. The NIA said the group — self-appointed and financed — was in an “advanced stage of carrying out a series of blasts” across the country and had “vital installations and important personalities, including politicians” on their target.
Recovery of remote-controlled devices has made NIA suspect some of the bombs were to be detonated via remote control.
This is among the biggest arrests the NIA has made at one time in connection with its probe into activities associated with the Islamic State in the country. In 2015, NIA had arrested over 20 men from Hyderabad and elsewhere for allegedly being part of a module that planned to carry out terror attacks in the country.
