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interview

who will authorize them. We have dom of the speech, the freedom
said that ten agencies are authorized of the judiciary, we have been eat-
to do that. It includes intelligence, CBI, en up, went to jail. Congress party
IB and other authentic institutions of should not teach us the lesson of de-
Indian Government and Police Com- mocracy, where people grow only
missioner of Delhi, because the Presi- because of nepotism.
dent, Prime Minister, Minister and
MPs reside here. But every order needs You have an additional charge too.
Home Secretary’s nod. So, it is clear that It’s the time of digital social media.
not everyone can do it. One is user generated content like
Tell me one thing, is not our country on Facebook and WhatsApp, while
under threat of terrorism. Some people the other issue is of owned content
encouraged by ISI misuse the Internet, like Netflix and amazon or G5.
does money laundering happens every Regulation of the content is a huge
day or not, then how can we leave the responsibility and a big problem.
matter in lurch. In a sense, India has How is the department overseeing
been working for sovereignty of the the content that is being telecast on
country with safety valve. If Manmo- such platforms and it is breaking our
cultural backbone?
You have asked the right question.
‘We can proudly Our policy is very clear in this matter.
say that unlike We believe in democracy and there
should be communication of ideas on
the Congress the digital platform. Today, our com-
Government, mon Indian asks questions on this
platform to the editors like you too.
there is no scam Respect their right. But if social me-
or no broker in dia platform is being used for violence
and pornography then this should
parliament to protect the data. the defense deals not happen. You must have seen we
have taken many decisions against
A law has been passed in the in Prime Minister child pornography. What did we do
government to snoop in the Narendra Modi’s with Whatsapp? We also gave notice
computers. The Opposition has against Facebook and it apologised. We
unitedly targeted the government government ’ respect the freedom of social media
on the issue. What is your reaction but if someone abuses, then there is a
on it? provision in India’s IT Act and action
You have done good homework but we han Singh’s government had done will be taken.
have not passed the bill. It’s just a noti- then that’s fine but if we do it then it’s
fication. As far as the Opposition is con- questionable. We should not forget Prime Minister Modi says that the
cerned, to oppose us on political issues, what had happened with one of the Congress party had threatened
it is their personal matter. If you have greatest President’s of India. The things against Supreme Court judges, and
raised the issue then let me explain it. that were found in the chamber of the tried to make allegations against
Section 69 of India’s IT Act pro- then finance minister can’t be forgot- former CJI Deepak Mishra. How much
vides that there is a provision for tap- ten. There were slips and other things, the system and the organisation
ping computer resources to prevent people forgot all the things. have got benifit?
India’s security, sovereignty and vio- The Congress Party had imposed the If it’s a profit or a loss, you should see
lence. Only the authorized persons of Emergency, imprisoned the editors, that. But I shall answer your question
the state government and the central Supreme Court superseded the court with a few questions. But there are
government can tap it. This rule was judges, among those who fought against also some lawyers who are Supreme
formed in 2009 when Manmohan it were the prominent people of this Court leaders. They cannot control the
Singh was in the government and its government. Prime Minister, Rajnath cases from Supreme Court. If they have
manual came at the same time. He said Singh ji, Arun Jaitley ji, Sushma Swaraj the courage then come, fight and win
that later that confirmation would be ji and I were amongst that. the elections. What did you do against
done later. Now the question arises We have fought for the free- Deepak Mishra? What was the Rahul

Tehelka / 31 january 2019 29 www.Tehelka.com