Spokesperson Shri Pawan Khera: He said that it was an attempt by the government to snoop on every citizen of the country, just as it had done earlier by installing ‘Pegasus’ in the phones of the VIPs. “What Pegasus was for VIPs, the Sanchar Sathi is for the common Indians”, he remarked, asserting that this was clearly aimed at snooping on common Indians. Rejecting the verbal clarification issued by the Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia that Sanchar Sathi mobile app was optional, the Congress today described it as an attempt to intrude into the bedrooms of common people and invade their privacy.

Shri Pawan Khera said that the Sanchar Sathi was the brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah who have the habit and recorded history of snooping on private citizens’ right from their Gujarat days. “Now they want to snoop on every citizen of the country”, he claimed, adding that with the Sanchar Sathi app on people’s mobile phones, everything will be copied and forwarded to Modi and Shah.

Replying to a question that the Communication Minister Scindia had already clarified that the app would be optional, Shri Khera said these were verbal assurances only and there was nothing on record from the government that would suggest that it had withdrawn its previous order, making the installation mandatory for all the Android and iOS phones. Asserting that the “safety and security” of the people was a mere excuse, Shri Khera said that the real purpose of the app was to track everything people do - what they spend, whom they talk to, and the photographs they click. He asked, why safety and security could not be ensured without invading the privacy of people.

The senior Congress leader also countered the government’s argument that people have already been providing their information to Google. To this, he said, Google does not implicate and intimidate people the way the government can. Besides, he asked, what was the guarantee that the app would not be misused to plant files on people’s computers and mobile phones as had been done in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case.

He said that the Congress categorically rejects this authoritarian overreach and demands its immediate withdrawal. He added that the people of India will not allow their privacy, autonomy, and freedom to be violated under the pretext of governance. Wednesday, December 3, 2025