Why do we need unelected 'so-called experts' to run crucial ministries: Chidambaram's dig at Vaishnaw

“Why do we need unelected so-called experts to run crucial ministries,” Congress leader P Chidambaram asked on Tuesday in an apparent swipe at Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw over the Odisha rail tragedy and the alleged CoWIN data breach.

The senior Congress leader also said he was “appalled” by revelations about how Vaishnaw, who is the minister for Railways, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology, runs his ministries.

“First, the Balasore tragedy. Obviously, the minister or his officers did not read the CAG Reports Nos. 22 and 23 submitted in December 2022 or the letter of the Principal Chief Operations Manager in February 2023,” the Congress leader said.

The “massive leak” of data from the CoWin portal exposed the claim that the personal data of millions of Indians are safe and protected, Chidambaram claimed.

“The revelation that enormous pressure was put on Twitter to block or delete tweets/accounts and the threats to unleash the Income Tax department and arrest employees demolished the claim that the investigating agencies are independent,” he said on Twitter.

“Why do we need unelected so-called ‘experts’ to run these crucial ministries and heap misery on the people,” the former Union minister asked.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey on Monday claimed the Indian government threatened to shut the micro-blogging platform down unless it complied with orders to restrict accounts during farmers’ protest, an accusation Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar dismissed as an “outright lie”.

There have been claims about a breach of data of citizens registered on the CoWIN platform and opposition parties have asked the government to take deterrent action.

The government has termed such reports “mischievous” and “without any basis” while asserting that the CoWIN portal is completely safe with adequate safeguards for data privacy.

The Opposition has also attacked the government over the train accident in Odisha’s Balasore district that claimed 288 lives.