The Congress on Thursday blamed the "prevalent fascist culture to abuse and intimidate" for the hacking of the Twitter and email accounts of party vice president Rahul Gandhi as also the Twitter, email accounts and website of the party even as it said the incidents reflected the complete vulnerability of cyber security and lack of safety of digital data.
"Demonstrative of disturbing insecurities of a prevalent fascist culture to abuse and intimidate, hackers used the accounts to post and propagate profanity and derogatory comments, statements and opinions in a malicious fashion," said Randeep Surjewala, AICC communications department in-charge.
He said that within seconds, an entire licenced army of trolls retweeted and reposted the "hateful and reprehensible" comments and statements of the hackers indicating that they were acting in concert and collusion in pursuance of a predetermined conspiracy.
The hacking incidents, he said, "reflect the extremities of a growing intolerant culture around us that resorts to abuse and insult every time it lacks answers to the questions raised by those who disagree with their point of view. It is a systematic attack on free speech and right to disagree in our country."
"Brazen hacking attempts also raise serious questions on the digital safety and privacy of millions of Indians, who use social media like Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and Instagram as not only conversational platforms but also for exchange of ideas and dissemination of information," Surjewala said. He said that every Indian's privacy is similarly under attack and onus lies upon the Modi government to do suitable course correction for protecting privacy of everyone who is on social media.
In the backdrop of the emphasis on cashless transactions post-demonetisation, the Congress leader said another important question being asked by every Indian is if conversational platforms like Twitter can be hacked so unabashedly by hackers, what is the safety of the entire digital payment network? "Does it not prove the inherent cyber security risks that exist for all electronic transactions and payment gateways?" he asked.
The Congress has filed complaints to the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police in the matter.