Digital India just a slogan, cybercrime rising: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims of success under the “Digital India” initiative, calling it a “People’s Movement” only in name, and accused the government of failing to secure citizens’ data and digital rights.

Responding to a blog post by the Prime Minister, in which he highlighted that Internet connections in India had grown from 25 crore in 2014 to over 97 crore today, Kharge said the ground reality paints a starkly different picture.

“The ground reality is not only in sharp contrast to what the government is claiming, but on top of that, the government has failed to secure the privacy of its citizens,” Kharge said in a post on X.

Listing a series of shortcomings, the Congress chief urged the Prime Minister to reflect on the “failures and frauds” of his government, instead of glossing over national challenges and seeking credit for a decade of Digital India.

He claimed that the Modi government’s “lofty claims” are undermined by unfulfilled promises, digital exclusion of marginalised communities and false narratives of inclusion and security.

Kharge cited reports suggesting that the Prime Minister himself told ministers and secretaries that India had witnessed over 10 crore cyberattacks since the Pahalgam terror incident. Quoting CERT-In data, he said cybersecurity incidents rose by 76.25% between 2020 and 2024 — from 11.58 lakh cases in 2020 to over 20.41 lakh in 2024.

Between 2022 and 2024, digital arrest scams and related cybercrimes have nearly tripled, while the monetary losses from such crimes have risen 21 times, he added.

Kharge further alleged that the Right to Information (RTI) Act, brought in by the Congress, is being diluted by a flawed data protection law. Citing RBI data, he said: “We were told that demonetisation would reduce cash transactions, but cash in circulation has risen — even in the last year.”