‘Dystopian tool to monitor every Indian’: Congress, netizens call Sanchar Saathi directive unconstitutional

Installing the Sanchar Saathi app in every mobile handset is a ploy to monitor every Indian, and is an unconstitutional act, said Congress. This comes after the Department of Telecommunications directed the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app in new mobile handsets.

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said the Right to Privacy is an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and liberty. “Big Brother cannot watch us. This DoT Direction is beyond unconstitutional. The Right to Privacy is an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and liberty, enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. A pre-loaded government app that cannot be uninstalled is a dystopian tool to monitor every Indian. It is a means to watch over every movement, interaction and decision of each citizen,” said the Congress leader, demanding an immediate rollback of the direction.

Not only Congress, Shiv Sena UBT’s Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi called the move a “BIG BOSS surveillance moment”. “Such shady ways to get into individual phones will be protested and opposed & if the IT Ministry thinks that instead of creating robust redressal systems it will create surveillance systems then it should be ready for a pushback!” she said.

Apart from political leaders, netizens have also taken to social media to protest the move. While some said that the government was taking “India towards becoming a totalitarian surveillance state”, some called it a “capture of all personal devices”. Netizens said the app is a threat to users’ privacy, with some stating that the app is the first step towards a bigger digital control plan.

The Ministry of Communications said that the DoT has mandated manufacturers and importers of mobile handsets that are intended for use in India to:

• Ensure that the Sanchar Saathi mobile application is pre-installed on all mobile handsets manufactured or imported for use in India.
• Ensure that the pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application is readily visible and accessible to the end users at the time of first use or device setup and that its functionalities are not disabled or restricted.
• For all such devices that have already been manufactured and are in sales channels in India, the manufacturer and importers of mobile handsets shall make an endeavour to push the App through software updates.

The ministry asked the manufacturers to complete the implementation in 90 days and submit the report in 120 days.