Under India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Government Of India has sent a WhatsApp message that was meant for Indian residents to several other nationalities.

The message from ‘Viksit Bharat Sampark’ went out on Sunday, March 17 and reached UAE phone numbers of Indians, British, Irish, Syrian, Pakistani and several other expatriates

While many assumed it was spam and blocked the number, Internet advocates are surprised by the reach of the message and suspect a bigger issue of data privacy concerns. The message has gone to people who have never travelled to India before.

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Who else did this with the verified scammer handle #ViksitBharatSampark? #justasking pic.twitter.com/uaiQ0wT1HQ

— Saradsree Ghosh (@TheSavvySapien) March 16, 2024

Lovin Dubai did a poll on our Instagram stories and received an overwhelming response

Within 2 hours we received 177 votes.

137 people said yes and 33 people said they did not receive the message. AKA, over 81% of the people who responded have received the message.

The contents of the WhatsApp text are biased towards the current ruling party ahead of the upcoming Indian Elections

The message consisted of an attachment which was a ‘Letter from Prime Minister’ in English and Hindi. It reads like a personal letter, signed by Narendra Modi and written for the reader.

The letter proceeds to narrate various accomplishments by the Modi government for farmers, women, healthcare, and infrastructure. It mentions several decisions passed by the Indian government in the past, and states that they have taken “strong steps against terrorism and Left-Wing Extremism.”

The letter ends with a request for ideas and suggestions for a fully developed “Viksit” India

It is still unclear how the Government of India has gained access to numbers of several nationalities outside India

The message has raised suspicions about the pre-existing issue of various firms selling data to third parties when users interact with the website and agree to ‘Terms and Conditions’ without reading them.

Indian Opposition parties for Narendra Modi have also flagged the issue, calling it a, “blatant misuse of government machinery and government data” to spread biased information.

Will the ⁦@ECISVEEP⁩ take note of such a blatant misuse of government machinery and government data to serve the partisan political interests of the ruling party? pic.twitter.com/wrV6iWwfsJ

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) March 18, 2024