The contentious rule that required smartphone manufacturers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi cybersecurity program on every smartphone sold in the nation was overturned by the Center on Wednesday, December 3, 2025. The government is now touting the unexpected spike in voluntary app downloads as justification for the U-turn, as well as a strong political response and individuals' caustic privacy warnings.
The Congress, on the other hand, rejected the government's explanation and accused the BJP of pushing "surveillance through coercion." At a press briefing, party spokesperson Pawan Khera claimed the government had been "exposed for prying into citizens' digital privacy" and was now attempting to "cover up an invasive and unconstitutional directive."
He argued that the minister's claim that the app could be deleted didn't align with the government's own written order, which he said explicitly stated that a pre-installed version could neither be removed nor disabled. Khera called the clarification "a convenient untruth designed to hide an alarming overreach," adding that a government that misrepresented its own rules could not be trusted with people's personal information.
Judges behind privacy verdict hail recall of Sanchar Saathi app order:
