New Delhi: A day after levelling serious allegations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra of allegedly taking “cash and gifts” from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to “ask questions in Parliament’, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has now written to Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw demanding an investigation into the IP address of the Lok Sabha MP’s login credentials, saying that she acted in a manner that was detrimental to India’s national security.
In the letter to Vaishnaw, who is the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, on Sunday, Dubey said that he may be aware of the allegations against Moitra that were presented by an advocate of the Supreme Court to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and with his assistance to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
He said that the allegations include that she committed a “criminal breach of trust, violated parliamentary ethics, and acted in a manner that was detrimental to India’s national security”.
Dubey pointed out that the allegations are serious in nature and echo back to the ‘Cash for Query’ incident that came to light almost eighteen years ago.
“The claim that Member of Parliament representing Krishnanagar (Moitra) gave Darshan Hiranandani and the Hiranandani conglomerate access to her login credentials for the Lok Sabha website so that they could utilise it for their own personal gain is possibly the most damning and grave of all the charges that are being made against her,” he said.
Dubey said that if the claims made above are found to be accurate, this constitutes a serious criminal breach of trust as well as a violation of India’s national security because it would give unauthorised individuals access to government websites that may contain classified information.
“The alleged sharing of Moitra’s Lok Sabha credentials with an external entity poses a direct threat to national security. Access to the Lok Sabha site might provide sensitive, possibly classified, information. Unauthorised access risks exposure of strategic data that could be exploited to undermine India’s policy decisions or strategic interests,” the BJP MP from Jharkhand said.
He added that any compromise of the cyber-security protocols, like sharing credentials, weakens the nation’s digital infrastructure, making it susceptible to domestic and international cyber threats.
“This act, if proven, not only threatens data integrity but can set a precedent, endangering the nation’s overall security apparatus,” the BJP MP said.
He stated that the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has been entrusted with the duty of operating government websites and is charged with storing data, including the IP address of individuals who seek to log in to their websites. The website for the Lok Sabha does not constitute an exception to this requirement.
“I beseech your good self to treat these allegations with the utmost seriousness and initiate an investigation to ascertain the IP address of all login credentials of Moitra’s Lok Sabha account and to determine whether there are any instances in which her Lok Sabha account was accessed at a location where she was not present,” he demanded.
Dubey said that any attempt by an MP to compromise the sanctity of the democratic temple by accepting monetary or other types of benefits in exchange for asking questions for the benefit of a business house ought to be thwarted as quickly as possible, and an investigation must be carried out and completed promptly.
(IANS)
