Sanchar Saathi app row: Scindia shuts down Congress' ‘snooping’ charge — here’s what he said

Speaking to ANI, Scindia said, “If you don’t want Sanchar Saathi, you can delete it. It is optional. It is our duty to introduce this app to everyone. Keeping it in their devices or not is up to the user.”

Responding to Opposition criticism, he said rival parties were attempting to manufacture controversy and emphasised that the government’s focus remained on consumer safety.

“When the opposition has no issues and they are trying to find some, we cannot help them. Our duty is to help consumers and ensure their safety. The Sanchar Saathi app enables every consumer to ensure their safety. Sanchar Saathi portal has more than 20 crore downloads, and the app has more than 1.5 crore downloads,” he said outside Parliament.

The Congress, however, has strongly objected to the directive issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), calling it a violation of privacy.

Congress MP KC Venugopal told ANI, “It is an attack on the privacy of the common people of the country. It is basically an attack on the Constitution also.”

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra described Sanchar Saathi as a “snooping app”. “Citizens have the right to privacy. Everyone must have the right to send messages to family and friends without the government looking at everything. They are turning this country into a dictatorship in every form,” she said.

The mandate requires Sanchar Saathi to be bundled with all new smartphones sold in India, while existing devices will receive it through a software update.

Manufacturers have been given three months to comply, though industry insiders say major companies including Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo are likely to raise objections. Neither the DoT nor the companies responded to requests for comment.

A senior government official described the directive as part of a wider push to strengthen “cybersecurity and anti-spam measures.”

This includes recent instructions to messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram to implement SIM-binding, which would restrict users from accessing the apps unless the SIM used during registration remains active in the device.