For the second day in a row, the BJP took on the Congress over its alleged engagement of data firm Cambridge Analytics (CA), now under a cloud over charges that it illegally mined data of Facebook users in its work for various political parties across countries.
The government and the party were aggressive on the issue, especially after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in an interview aired on CNN early morning in India promised to ensure that there was no manipulation via data of elections in India. This followed a strict warning by Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad that Facebook could face trouble if it allowed illegal data mining in India via the social media site.
Mr. Prasad, in a reprisal of his press conference on Wednesday, accused the Congress of doing “politics over dead bodies,” after party president Rahul Gandhi termed the BJP’s attacks a way of distracting attention from the confirmation of the death of 39 Indians in Iraq four years after the event.
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“All I will tell Rahul Gandhi, he should not do politics on dead bodies of Indians who lost their lives in very unfortunate circumstances,” said Mr. Prasad.
‘Poisonous campaign’
He insisted that the Congress had used the services of Cambridge Analytica, which has been accused of unlawfully harvesting people’s data from platforms like Facebook to influence elections in different countries. Mr. Prasad alleged that imprints of Cambridge Analytica were “visible” in the Congress’s campaign in Gujarat. It ran a “poisonous and divisive campaign” in the state, he claimed.
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He said several media reports about the Opposition party using the services of the firm had appeared in October and November last year and it never denied those stories till the BJP raised the issue on Wednesday.
The Opposition party maintained a conspicuous silence on the role of a dubious company, he said, adding that it prompted him to question whether it had the ability to run this country.
Indian partner’s role
To questions about reports that an Indian company, which was Cambridge Analytica’s partner, might have worked for the BJP and its allies as well, Mr. Prasad insisted that his party never had any ties with the foreign company.
There was no authentic confirmation of any Indian partner of the company working for the BJP or its allies, he said.
He, however, sought to make a distinction between Cambridge Analytica and its partner, saying the former had been accused of using honey trap and data theft.