Pegasus 'renamed' as Sanchar Saathi, govt spying on people: Uddhav
Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said that the Sanchar Saathi app is another version of Pegasus spyware and accused the BJP-led government of trying to spy on the people who voted it to power.
Instead of putting people under surveillance, the government must focus on how the Pahalgam attack took place in April this year, which claimed 26 lives, and how terrorists enter India, the former Maharashtra chief minister said.
The Communication Ministry's order, dated November 28, mandating all mobile phone manufacturers to pre-install Sanchar Saathi app in all handsets to be sold in India, as well as in existing devices through software update, has triggered a row.
ALSO READ: Snooping will never happen with Sanchar Saathi app: Scindia in LS
Concerns have been raised about possible snooping and that the app could be used to read messages that users exchange.
"You must have heard about Pegasus (spyware). It would install a virus (malware) in phones and spy. They (the government) have changed the name of Pegasus to Sanchar Saathi. They are spying," Thackeray claimed while speaking to his party workers at his residence 'Matoshri' in Mumbai.
"You (government) are showing mistrust in people who trusted you," he added.
Amid privacy concerns over the Sanchar Saathi app, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday asserted that snooping is neither possible nor will it happen with the app.
Depending on the feedback, the ministry is ready to make changes to the order regarding the installation of the app in devices, he told the Lok Sabha.
ALSO READ: Apple to discuss Sanchar Saathi app order with govt, may not follow in its current form
Asserting that the app is for the protection of people, he said the government wants to give choices to consumers.
If a consumer has not been registered on the app, then the app will not be operational and one can also delete the app, he stated.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
