The Communist Party of India (Marxist) central leadership has defended Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government's decision to share health data with US-based firm, Sprinklr, citing the extraordinary situation in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.
While the party general secretary Sitaram Yechury refused to comment on the row surrounding the deal, senior politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai said there was nothing wrong in the government's decision to seek the services of the US-based firm to tackle the COVID crisis in the state.
“You get it from them (the party leaders) in Kerala, we have nothing here to say,” Yechury said before disconnecting the call when Onmanorama sought his response on the issue.
'Nothing wrong'
Ramachandran Pillai, meanwhile, said the party found nothing wrong with the state government's decision. He said the party will review the state's experience of handling the COVID situation once normalcy is restored.
“Now we are facing an extraordinary situation and we have to take extraordinary measures. When a normal situation arises, then we will review the whole experience. The government's main concern was to stop people from dying and they succeeded in it,” Pillai said.
Asked if the government's decision to pick Sprinklr to process the people's health-related data was in compliance with the party's stance on data privacy, Pillai said, “Whatever yardsticks we formulated in a normal situation is not at all applicable in an extraordinary situation. We have to review the whole experience, not just one step.”
He said the party has been discussing the issue on a daily basis.
The opposition Congress has been targetting the Kerala government over the deal with Sprinklr.
Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, who first raised the issue, said the government had compromised the data of millions by facilitating an illegal deal with a US firm.
The government has time and again said that the company, owned by Keralite Ragi Thomas, is offering its services to the state for free.
Both the company and the government rubbished the opposition charges too, saying there will not be any data breach.
Not the time for controversies: CM
Taking potshots at the opposition for levelling data compromise allegations against his government, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said those who want to deny the the government the credit for handling the COVID-19 crisis effectively were trying to tarnish its image.
"I would like to reiterate that this is not the time to go after such controversies. People are watching it and they will judge it. Our stance is to condemn such efforts and move ahead," the CM said at his weekly TV show Naam Munnottu, aired on Sunday.
"Even developed nations were amused to see Kerala's efforts to tackle COVID-19 and its achievements. This is the speciality of the Kerala model. Since different world agencies and developed nations have understood about Kerala, they may think of helping the state,"he said.
CPM stand on data privacy
The CPM has always taken a strong stance for ensuring data privacy.
It is the only party that had promised data privacy in its manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The manifesto had proposed to enact data privacy laws that protect the people against appropriation/misuse of users' private data for commercial use.
