Can Be Useful If Voluntary: Shashi Tharoor On Sanchar Saathi Row

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor sees potential for usefulness in the Union government's Sanchar Saathi application with the caveat that its presence on a user's phone should be a voluntary choice.

"Common sense tells me that these apps can be useful provided they are voluntary," the Rajya Sabha MP told ANI.

But he did not seem to share the same enthusiasm when it came to the app being preloaded into phones, saying that they should be available to download but not be made mandatory.

"Everyone who needs them should be able to download them. Making anything compulsory in a democracy is troubling. I need to look more into the logic of the government," he said.

He also further stated that the Centre should have reported this decision to the general public and get their opinion instead of the latter finding out through media reports. "We need to have a discussion where the government reports the idea behind the decision," Tharoor stated.

The Indian National Congress entirely opposed the preinstallation of the government's app on smartphones.

Congress General Secretary K C Venugopal termed the move "a violation of constitutional rights".

"Big Brother cannot watch us. This DoT direction is beyond unconstitutional. Right to Privacy is an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and liberty, enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution," Venugopal said.

He also referred to earlier reports that had said the application could not be uninstalled, calling it "a dystopian tool" to monitor India's residents.

"A pre-loaded government app that cannot be uninstalled is a dystopian tool to monitor every Indian. It is a means to watch over every movement, interaction and decision of each citizen… We reject this direction and demand its immediate rollback," Venugopal said.

Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia clarified earlier on Tuesday that the application will be optional and can be removed at any point in time.

"The app is completely optional. If you want to delete it, you can," he said. He added that the application was not going to engage in spying and call monitoring.

The centre stated that the app's purpose was to combat digital fraud.