BJP, Cong Hurl Allegations As Cambridge Analytica Row Intensifies

The BJP and the Congress blamed each other for using the data mining firm’s services during elections in India.

The BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad and the Congress’ Randeep Surjewala accused each other’s party of hiring the services of Cambridge Analytica.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The BJP continued its tirade against Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday, 22 March, alleging that the Congress employed the services of Cambridge Analytica for their campaigns.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi had tweeted saying that the BJP government was trying to “invent story” on Congress being linked to Cambridge Analytica to cover up the fact that the External Affairs ministry “was caught lying” about the death of 39 Indians in Mosul.

Cambridge Analytica, a data mining firm, has been accused of illegally harvesting Facebook users' details to influence elections in several countries.

Denying charges of being linked to the firm, the party counter-accused the ruling party of using the services of the controversial firm. The BJP also rejected the allegation.

‘Cambridge Analytica Increased Rahul’s Popularity on Twitter’

At a press briefing, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad quoted reports published by The Economic Times, Business Standard and the Sunday Guardian that had suggested Congress was in touch with Big Data firm Cambridge Analytica before the the 2017 Gujarat State Assembly elections.

The Economic Times added Alexander Nix, that CEO of Cambridge Analytica, met several Congress leaders to design the strategy. Prasad urged Gandhi to reveal the number of times he had met the now sacked CEO.

What link does Cambridge Analytica have with the social media management of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress? How much data of Indians has the Congress shared with foreign firms?

Ravi Shankar Prasad

The firm was accused of using "sex, sleaze and fake news" to influence elections and asked if the Congress too planned to walk the same path, said Prasad.

The Union minister said the number of Gandhi's Twitter followers had shot up recently and wondered if it was due to the services of the firm that the Congress chief achieved this "fake popularity".

Will the Congress now depend on data manipulation and theft to woo voters?

Ravi Shankar Prasad

‘BJP’s Factory of Fake News Produced Another Fake Product’

Hitting back at Prasad, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said it was the BJP which hired the services of the controversial firm during Bihar state polls as well as for its 'Mission 272-plus' campaign. He denied that the Congress had ever approached the company.

The BJP’s factory of fake news has produced one more fake product today. It appears that fake press conferences, fake agendas and fake spins and fake statements have become the everyday character of the BJP and its ‘lawless’ minister of law Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Randeep Surjewala

Claiming that Cambridge Analytica and another Indian firm Ovelina Business Intelligence (OBI), run by the son of a prominent NDA leader from Bihar, complimented each other's businesses, Surjewala said their achievements include managing four successful election campaigns for the ruling BJP.

He claimed that Cambridge's local partner OBI talked of having achieved "target 272+", providing constituency-wise database to BJP candidates and extending support to it in national elections and state elections of Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi.

It is not me who is saying so. It is Cambridge Analytica which is saying so. And they have partners in India whose businesses complement each other. They have done 272+ campaign and the campaign for four states.

Randeep Surjewala

Surjewala also alleged that OBI's services were used by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in 2009.

He also alleged that Modi hired a German-American firm APCO for 'Brand Gujarat' and for organising his international events, adding the same company was hired by Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and Kazakhstan President Noor Sultan.

To a question on the the Centre's 'warning' to Facebook on data leak, the Congress leader said Modi met Mark Zuckerberg in the US and is said to be his “friend”.

The Congress’s social media and digital communications manager, Divya Spandana, termed all allegations "absolutely false.”

‘Cambridge Analytica is Now Congress Analytica’

Later, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters that the illegal use of people's data from social media could turn out to be the Congress' "biggest scam" – and added that the government would launch a probe into the matter.

Stealing data from social media is your (Congress) weapon. Cambridge Analytica is now Congress Analytica.

Sambit Patra

Patra rejected the Congress' allegation that it was the BJP and Modi who had hired the services of Cambridge Analytica during the previous Lok Sabha election and said over 1,000 websites and 10,000 individuals had claimed to have played a role in the saffron party's victory in the 2014 polls.

"We have nothing to hide," the BJP spokesperson said.

Worked For Both BJP, Congress: Cambridge Analytica’s Indian Arm

While both political parties deny their involvement with the British firm, senior journalist Sreenivasan Jain tweeted this out:

Meanwhile, the website of OBI has been suspended.

BJP Warns Action Against Facebook

Prasad warned Facebook of stringent legal action against any misuse of data of its over 200 million Indian users.

The government was in touch with the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice of the USA to assess the privacy violations of the Indian users, he said.

It would also summon the representatives of Cambridge Analytica and Facebook over the data theft of the latter's Indian users and take strictest action, he added.

(With inputs from PTI)

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