Rahul Gandhi is technologically illiterate: BJP's latest barb over 'data sharing' issue

The war of words between the Congress and the BJP on data sharing issue spiralled on Monday.

Pic courtesy: Twitter/@INCKarnataka (File image)

New Delhi: The BJP on Monday described Rahul Gandhi's accusation of "data theft" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "a classic case of technological illiteracy".

In a tweet, the Congress chief has dubbed PM Modi "the Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians" and has alleged that his "NaMo App secretly records audio, video, contacts of your friends and family and even tracks users' location via GPS".

At a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra lashed out at him, saying such kind of technological illiteracy has rarely been seen in Indian politics. Taking a dig, he said that Rahul would tweet tomorrow that PM Modi and BJP are connected to electronic voting machines through the NaMo app and they have been winning election after election because they have hacked it.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi is technologically illiterate. He does not know that data analysis is not equivalent to spying. This new age is the age of information which Rahul ji will not understand: Sambit Patra, BJP pic.twitter.com/LgWKwb5XdI — ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2018

It was the Congress app, Patra alleged, that was "stealing" people's data and as soon as the BJP exposed it, the Opposition party took it down from Google's play store, making it "Congress-mukt". He further alleged that the Congress was stealing data of 20 crore Indian Facebook users with the help of Cambridge Analytica, a data mining firm embroiled in charges of harvesting people's social media profile illegally, but was caught, leaving Rahul rattled.

The private firm was allegedly using data theft, sleaze and honey trap to influence the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Patra claimed, PTI reported. He cited user information sought by various media apps to claim that these permissions are demanded by smart apps for analytics and it does not amount to snooping. The new age is the age of information and PM Modi has been maintaining communication with the masses and BJP leaders through his app, which the Congress does not want, Patra said, claiming that the country had suffered ten years of "communication-less" governance during the UPA rule.

On the other hand, Union Minister Smriti Irani mocked the Congress chief, on Monday saying that even 'Chhota Bheem', a cartoon character, knows that commonly asked permission on Apps does not "tantamount to snooping".

Rahul had attacked PM Modi on Sunday too over allegations of data sharing from his official app without users' consent. His attack on the PM was based on a media report in which a French vigilante hacker alleged that data was stolen from his official NaMo app without the consent of the users.

(With PTI inputs)