The official Twitter accounts of Indian National Congress and party Vice president Rahul Gandhi were hacked today and some messages laden with expletives and profanities posted on it, the party said.
Rahul Gandhi's Twitter account was hacked last night too and some obscene remarks were put out online for around an hour.
The Congress has, meanwhile, filed a complaint with the Cyber cell of Delhi Police on the hacking of its Vice President's twitter account.
The complaint was filed by party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, demanding strict action against those behind the hacking.
After the hacking, Congress raised questions on the digital safety of all Indians and said it reflects disturbing insecurities of the prevalent "fascist culture" in the country.
Gandhi's account was hacked around 8.45 PM and some messages with profanities were put out, but these were deleted soon thereafter.
"Such lowly tactics will neither drown the sane voice of reason nor deter Rahul Gandhi from raising people's issues," Surjewala had said.
"Such unscrupulous, unethical and roguish conduct of venal trolls to hack Rahul Gandhi's Twitter handle reflects disturbing insecurities of prevalent fascist culture," he said.
Surjewala also tweeted, "Pre-meditated hacking of @OfficeOfRG smacks of a sinister conspiracy to abuse and intimidate. It strengthens our resolve to fight for the Nation."
"Hacking of@OfficeofRG proves lack of Digital safety around each one of us. Every digital info can be accessed, altered, morphed & modified," the Congress leader said in another tweet.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel also tweeted, "The way @OfficeOfRG a/c got hacked, as cybercrime and Twitter watched helpless raises serious Q's on digital safety, Digital India future."
"Those forcing country to adopt online payment overnight, have they taken steps to ensure a/c of ordinary ppl will be immune from hacking?," he also said.
(REOPENS DEL10)
The hacking incident only exposes the perils of the digital world and the cyber security that is existing in our country, Congress MP Deepender Hooda said outside Parliament.
Taking potshot at the Modi government's Digital India move, he said "It also exposes the hollowness of the digital India. There is a question mark on the whole push going towards digital as your server is not safe."
Seeking action against the culprits, the Haryana Congress MP said, "The cyber security is causing problem. So breaches are taking place which pose a serious question on the system. We condemn this and seek action against the person responsible for hacking."
When it was pointed out that some disgruntled elements in the party could have done it, he said "let the investigations reveal who has done it. Online abuse is something which was not discovered yesterday. We have seen online abuse coming from people with right-wing leanings."
However, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the matter is being taken very "seriously" and prompt action has been taken.
"As far twitter account of Rahul Gandhi is concerned, when it came to my notice, I took it very seriously. Twitter representative of India was contacted and all offending tweets were removed," Prasad said.
He said, "We are seeking the details of all those who logged in that twitter account in the last one week to probe it further."
Allaying fears about the cyber security system, Prasad said, "I want to assure the country that our cyber security mechanism is fine we are taking all steps to further reinforce it. When this kind of thing take place we take prompt measures."
"We also came to know that Congress has lodged an FIR in the case. Whatever is possible on our part, we will cooperate with Delhi Police IT cell for this," he added.
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said nobody from the government or BJP is involved in the hacking incident.
"There is a mock video also doing the round. Obviously not from the government or anybody from our party is involved. We are trying our best to bring the culprit to book. IT Ministry is on the job and interacting with the vice-president of Congress for it," Rathore said.
Questioned how a 'digital India' will be secured when an SPG protectee's account can be hacked, the MoS retorted, "His (Rahul Gandhi's) account is not SPG protected. The world is moving towards digital technology. India is moving also towards that.
