Opposition leaders took on the government over the snooping powers given to agencies.
The home ministry's order giving sweeping powers to investigating agencies to intercept and monitor information on computer devices has drawn sharp reactions from the opposition, with the Congress terming it as government's attempt to turn the country into a "surveillance state".
Ten central agencies have been equipped with powers of "interception, monitoring and decryption of any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer". Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba signed the order on Thursday.
"Through this order, the BJP government is turning India into a 'surveillance state'. It is against the right to privacy... This shows the ultimate use of power. This is a big threat democracy," Congress leader Anand Sharma said.
Finance Minister responded to Mr Sharma in Rajya Sabha, "On December 20, the same order of authorisation was repeated that was existing since 2009. You are making a mountain where a molehill does not exist," Mr Jaitley said. He said certain agencies "always had" the right to intercept data. "The authorization given to these agencies were brought to law under the UPA government in 2009. We cannot gain access to anybody's phone or data unless it is related to national security," said the senior minister.
Congress' Anand Sharma accused the centre of turning the country into a "surveillance state".
The agencies authorised in the government order are the Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, CBI, National Investigation Agency, Cabinet Secretariat (R&AW), Directorate of Signal Intelligence (in Jammu and Kashmir, North-East and Assam only) and the Delhi Police Commissioner.
Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav called the move "dangerous". "All I would like to say to the BJP government is this - that in the next few months we will see a change of government. So it is best the BJP doesn't dig a pit for itself."
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who too called it "dangerous", sought a pubic opinion on Twitter.
Left leader Sitaram Yechury tweeted: "Why is every Indian being treated like a criminal? This order by a government wanting to snoop on every citizen is unconstitutional and in breach of the telephone tapping guidelines, the Privacy Judgement and the Aadhaar judgement."
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, meanwhile, weaved a pun out of George Orwell's classic, 1984, to take on the government. "Who knew that this is what they meant when they said 'ghar ghar Modi'," he tweeted.
"For the first time, powers of scanning data at rest have been given to various agencies. Earlier, only data in motion could be intercepted. But now data revived, stored and generated can also be intercepted as powers of seizure have been given," a senior bureaucrat explained to NDTV.
This means not just calls or emails, but any data found on a computer can be intercepted. The agencies will also have powers to seize the devices.