Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday praised the National Investigation Agency for busting an alleged module of the Islamic State group that was reportedly preparing to carry out bomb attacks in the country. He asked whether this crackdown would have been possible without the interception of electronic communications.

This was an apparent reference to a government order last week that authorised 10 central agencies to monitor information stored on computers. The order was criticised by the Opposition parties.

“Were the maximum intercepts done during the UPA Government?” Jaitley asked on Twitter. “Surely George Orwell was not born in May 2014.” Jaitley was referring to former Union minister P Chidambaram’s comments that monitoring computers amounted to creating an “Orwellian state”.

Jaitley added: “National security and sovereignty are paramount. Life and personal liberty will survive only in a strong democratic nation – not in a terrorist dominated state.”

Would this crackdown of the terrorist module by NIA have been possible without interception of electronic communications? — Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 27, 2018

Were the maximum intercepts done during the UPA Government? Surely George Orwell was not born in May, 2014. — Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 27, 2018

National security and sovereignty are paramount. Life and personal liberty will survive only in a strong democratic nation – not in a terrorist dominated State. — Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 27, 2018

On Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency had arrested 10 persons and detained six for questioning in connection with the alleged new module of the Islamic State, called Harkat ul Harb-e-Islam. The agency said the group was planning bomb blasts targeting politicians and government installations in Delhi and other parts of north India.

Soon after, the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had “delivered” on its promise of zero-tolerance against terrorism. “India has been largely been free from any terror-related incident targeting civilians in the tenure of the Modi government,” BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said.

The ‘snooping’ order

The order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday authorised 10 central agencies to monitor, intercept, and decrypt “any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer”. Service providers, subscribers and those in charge of a computer resource will be bound to extend all technical assistance to the agencies, and failing to do so will lead to imprisonment.

After facing criticism from the Opposition for the order, the government had on Friday clarified that it had not conferred any new powers on any central security or law enforcement agency through the notification. The notification was in accordance with rules framed in 2009, the ministry said.

The ministry had cited Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules 2009, which says that a competent authority may authorise a governmental agency to intercept, monitor or decrypt information in any computer.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi had said the order would prove that Narendra Modi was an “insecure dictator”, while the party also said it was considering moving court against the order. Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury had questioned why every one was “being treated like a criminal”.

Two separate petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court against the order.