New Delhi (Rajeev Sharma): The dispute surrounding the Centre’s decision to have the Sanchar Saathi application pre-loaded on new smartphones sold in India showed no signs of easing, even after Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia attempted to reassure users that they will not be compelled to keep or use the app.
Addressing the media, Scindia maintained that the directive issued to device manufacturers had been misunderstood. He stressed that the app poses no threat to personal data and can be removed by users if they prefer not to engage with it.
“Just like other pre-bundled apps, you may retain it or delete it,” he said. “Not everything that appears on a phone is mandatory for the consumer. If you don’t want to activate Sanchar Saathi, simply don’t.”
The minister argued that the initiative is aimed at equipping citizens with tools to check handset authenticity and report theft. According to him, many users remain unaware that such safeguards exist, and the government’s job is to ensure they are accessible. “This is about consumer protection, not surveillance,” he insisted.
Opposition parties have fiercely pushed back against that narrative. Congress leaders have warned that the directive resembles an attempt to extend state monitoring through personal devices.
K.C. Venugopal called it a direct assault on privacy rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra described the app as a vehicle for “intrusion disguised as governance,” while Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi likened the move to an “all-seeing-eye” approach to citizen tracking.
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram raised similar alarm bells, arguing that such practices belong to authoritarian nations, not democratic ones.
Scindia rejected the allegations, pointing to the scale of financial losses Indian citizens suffered from cybercrimes last year. “When fraud worth tens of thousands of crores takes place, people ask what the government is doing. When we take steps to prevent it, they accuse us of spying,” he said, adding that misinformation had fuelled unwarranted panic.
The Department of Telecommunications has maintained that manufacturers are obligated to follow the pre-installation instructions under cybersecurity rules, but the option to remove the app remains with the consumer.
As the debate widens, digital rights groups, industry players and political parties are expected to push for clearer protocols on pre-installed government software, signalling that the controversy around Sanchar Saathi may continue to dominate conversations around privacy and technology policy in the coming weeks.
