Rahul Gandhi Accuses Modi Government of Endangering National Security with Chinese Surveillance

Concerns Over Foreign Surveillance

New Delhi: On Saturday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi raised serious allegations against the Modi administration, claiming it jeopardizes the safety of Indian citizens by attempting to obscure its own shortcomings and hiding the truth about foreign surveillance facilitated by Chinese cameras at critical sites.

In a Hindi post on Facebook, he stated, "This is a calculated effort to keep India uninformed."

Gandhi pointed out that while the government has recently prohibited the public use of Chinese CCTV cameras, many still remain operational within government facilities.

He expressed concerns that banned Chinese applications are re-emerging under new identities and that foreign AI systems are handling sensitive information without any government oversight.

The Opposition leader mentioned that he posed these inquiries to the Ministry of Electronics and IT during a parliamentary session.

He criticized the ministry's response as verbose yet lacking in concrete answers to his specific queries.

Gandhi demanded clarity on the origins of the cameras, their security certifications, and the foreign AI platforms managing government data, as well as the identities of any banned apps that are still functioning.

He noted that despite acknowledging the risks posed by the one million Chinese cameras in use five years ago, the government has yet to confirm whether the current surveillance systems are secure.

By attempting to mask its failures and the reality of foreign surveillance, Gandhi asserted that the Modi government is endangering the security of every citizen.

In response to an unstarred question he raised in the Lok Sabha on March 25, the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Jitin Prasada, acknowledged the cybersecurity threats posed by digital technologies.

Prasada outlined various initiatives taken over the past twelve years to enhance India's digital infrastructure, including measures to safeguard telecom networks and strengthen legal frameworks for data protection.

He emphasized that the government has implemented the National Security Directive on Trusted Sources to ensure that only trusted telecommunication equipment is utilized in the country.

Furthermore, he mentioned the introduction of the Telecommunication Act, 2023, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2022, aimed at bolstering network security and personal data protection.

Regarding CCTV systems, the minister stated that significant reforms have been enacted to enhance their security, including the establishment of mandatory requirements for CCTVs in the Indian market.