While speaking at a virtual BJP rally in West Bengal, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday, July 2, that the Modi government's decision to impose ban on 59 Chinese apps was a "digital strike" on the neighbouring country.
The IT Minister said that the apps were banned to protect data of Indians. "We banned Chinese apps to protect data of countrymen; it was a digital strike," Prasad said.
Prasad went on to add, "For security and sovereignty of India, for countrymen's digital security and privacy we have banned 59 apps, including TikTok. India knows how to look in the eyes of those eyeing our borders and to protect countrymen, India can even do a digital strike."
'India has given befitting reply to China'
"India for peace but if somebody casts an evil eye we will give befitting reply," Ravi Shankar Prasad added.
India recently banned 59 Chinese mobile apps, including TikTok, Weibo, CamScanner, among others, amid heightened tensions between India and China following the June 15 clash in Ladakh's Galwan Valley that claimed lives of 20 Indian troops.
Ravi Shankar Prasad further blamed the CPI-M and questioned why the party was not criticising China amid the current border conflict.
He also hailed the "strong" leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that if India has lost 20 jawans, the toll is double on the other (Chinese) side.
"Now you can hear about only two 'Cs' - Coronaviris and China. We believe in peace and solve problems through discussion, but if somebody casts an evil eye on India, we will give a befitting reply...if our 20 jawans have sacrificed their lives, then the toll is double on the Chinese side.
"You all must have noticed that they have not come out with any figure," Prasad, also the Union electronics and information technology minister, said addressing a virtual rally for the people of Bengal.
Prasad also recalled how India had responded after terror attacks in the recent past. "You all must remember how we had retaliated after Uri and Pulwama (terror strikes). When our PM is saying that the sacrifice of our jawans won't go in vain, it has a meaning. Our government has the will to deliver," he said.
(With agency inputs)
