NEW DELHI: The political row over the Sanchar Saathi App issue escalated on Tuesday with Congress terming it BJP’s yet “another attempt to strangulate the people’s voice”. Likening the move to dictatorship, the opposition party called it a ‘snooping app’, and demanded its immediate rollback.

Sharpening the attack, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the government initiated this move without consulting any political parties or stake holders.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has directed manufacturers and importers of mobile handsets to ensure that its fraud reporting app Sanchar Saathi is pre-installed in all new devices within 90 days.

“The Modi Government’s unilateral directions to preload this app without taking into confidence various stakeholders and citizens is akin to dictatorship. Why does the Govt want to know what citizens talk with their family and friends?” he asked in a post on X.

Holding that one is not witnessing this for the first time, he said, “Income Tax laws were bulldozed to turn our digital lives into a 24x7 monitoring zone – every click, chat, and payment up for grabs without consent. RTI strangulated by tweaking Section 8(1)(j) via the DPDP Act 2023 - fewer questions, less accountability, more darkness.” “The Pegasus scandal proved what we feared: phones of 100+ Indians hacked - Opposition leaders, judges, journalists, even Union Ministers were snooped on.