Congress' Salman Khurshid slams Digital Strike 'bravado' on China; says 'discuss with us'

Former Union Minister and Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Thursday slammed the remarks by Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad where he said, "India did a digital strike" by banning 59 Chinese-linked apps. Khurshid said that "this kind of bravado manes no sense."

'If the strikes are meaningless...'

"Now all this business of digital strike, this strike or that strike. This kind of bravado in the public makes no sense. If the strikes are going to help India we will support the strike, if the strikes are meaningless then what is the point of supporting the strike. We are not saying that share the information in public, share it privately. Call the leadership, share this is confidential whatever you want to do," the Congress leader was quoted by ANI as saying.

He asked if the data was being collected by apps for months before they were banned on Monday. "If it is a question of data being used against the interest of India and the data was collected all those months and years.... how come that changes overnight. Is it that the data is given in the last two years or taken in the last two years there was no problem and today there will be a problem? Now we need to be told what is the distinction between these two," Khurshid said.

'We are not puppets'

He also said that the government should take Congress into confidence about its actions concerning national security and the party can make valuable suggestions. He said the party cannot be treated like a puppet and there should consultations.

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"We have a clear position that if it is national interest and if it is a matter of confrontation with the neighbour who is becoming hostile towards India's welfare and India's national interest, we will stand by the government. Having said that we are not puppets, we need to be told about the situation, and we have to be persuaded. It has to be discussed with us," he said.

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Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday termed the government's move of banning 59 Chinese-linked apps as a "digital strike." Addressing a virtual rally in Bengal, Prasad said, "We banned Chinese apps to protect data of countrymen; it was a digital strike."

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On June 29, India had banned 59 apps with Chinese links, including hugely popular TikTok and UC Browser, saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country. The ban comes in the backdrop of current stand-off along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh with Chinese troops.

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(With Agency inputs)