Saket Gokhale, a spokesperson for the Trinamool Congress (TMC), claimed on Twitter on Monday that the Covid-19 vaccination app CoWIN had been the source of a ‘major privacy breach by the Modi government,’ alleging that ‘personal details of all vaccinated Indians have been leaked and are freely available.’ Official sources denied the allegations, saying that the Union Health Ministry is putting up a thorough report.
Supriya Sule of the NCP and Karti Chidambaram of the Congress were among the other opposition figures to call attention to the purported data leak. According to certain media accounts, after receiving their immunisation, citizens uploaded their personal information to the CoWIN portal where it was thereafter openly accessible.
TMC’s Saket Gokhale identified a number of well-known people in a lengthy Twitter thread, claiming that their personal information, including their mobile numbers, Aadhaar numbers, passport numbers, voter identification cards, and information about their families, was now in the public domain.
According to his tweet, these opposition figures included Haribansh Narayan Singh, the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, TMC Leader Derek O’Brien, former Union Minister P Chidambaram, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and KC Venugopal, and Rajya Sabha MPs Sushmita Dev, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Sanjay Raut.
Gokhale also mentioned a few journalists, claiming that their personal information was also accessible online.
He further emphasized that the ‘personal details of literally every Indian who got a Covid-19 vaccination are freely available on this leaked database.’
‘Question is: How did personal details including passport no, Aadhaar no, etc. get leaked when Modi Govt claims it follows ‘strong data security?’ Why is the Modi government, including Home Ministry not aware of this leak & why haven’t Indians been informed about a data breach? Who has the Modi Govt given access to sensitive personal data of Indians incl Aadhaar & Passport nos. which enabled this leak?’ Gokhale wrote.
He identified it as a critical national concern and noted that Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Minister of Electronics, Communications, and IT, is ‘predictably the Minister in-charge of this, in addition to Railways.’ How much longer will PM Modi continue to overlook Ashwini Vaishnaw’s incompetence?
Supriya Sule, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the opposition party, also called the report of the leak ‘deeply concerning and unacceptable’ if accurate.
‘If these reports hold true, they are not only deeply concerning but also unacceptable! The government owes us immediate clarification and must ensure those responsible for this breach are held accountable,’ Sule wrote, quoting a news report.
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