Christopher Wylie, the whistleblower and a computer expert who sparked a global debate over electronic privacy, said on Wednesday the JD(U) had availed the services of the data mining firm Cambridge Analytica's parent company SCL’s services in 2010.
“I've been getting a lot of requests from Indian journalists, so here are some of SCL's past projects in India. To the most frequently asked question - yes SCL/CA works in India and has offices there. This is what modern colonialism looks like,” Wylie wrote on Twitter.
The documents attached to the tweet reveals the Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) was the company’s client in 2010, though it didn’t mention any other party.
The tweet read: “SCL india was asked to provide electoral research and strategy for the 2010 State Elections for the Janata Dal (United). SCL undertook a behavioural research programme targeting over 75% of households to assist the client in not only identifying the correct battlegrounds, but also the right audiences, messages and most importantly the right castes to target their campaigns'.
The documents also mention:
SCL has a database of over 600 districts and 7 lakh villages, which is constantly updated. It carried out a caste census in Uttar Pradesh on behalf of a national party in 2012.
SCL India undertook a statewide (200 million) in 2011 in UP to identify voter caste by household.
* In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, it managed the campaigns of several MPs.
*In 2007, SCL carried out a full political survey on behalf of a major party.
*In 2007, they carried out a project, to support a 'trans-national programme for countering the non-desired behaviour of recruitment into violent jihadism. It was carried out in Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and UP.
*In 2003, they carried out a psephological study and opinion polling for national party to identify swing voters in MP for a national party.
*In 2003, they carried out two pieces of work, an internal audit for a major party to assess its organisational strength, and one to find another to find the nature of the voting population.
Speaking at the UK Parliament on Tuesday, Wylie said the Congress was one of the political parties in India that had used the services of the tainted company Cambridge Analytica. According to Wylie, the firm had large-scale operations in India and even had an office here.
"I believe their client was Congress but I know that they have done all kinds of project. I don't remember a national project but I know regionally. India's so big that one state can be as big as Britain. But they do have offices there, they do have staff," Wylie said while speaking at the UK Parliament.
Reacting to Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad's demand for an apology from Rahul Gandhi over former Cambridge Analytica employee Christopher Wylie's claims of Congress-CA links, the party dubbed it to be "all false".
"It is all false. Why is India's perpetually lying Law Minister (Ravi Shankar Prasad) throwing allegations in the media. He is in power. Why doesn't he show all proof and then register an FIR? We challenge you (Bharatiya Janata Party). They fear they will be exposed if they probe," said party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.
Prasad on Tuesday said, "Today the whistleblower Christopher Wylie has confirmed that Cambridge Analytics worked with Congress. This has exposed Rahul Gandhi who was denying all along," adding, "Congress and Rahul Gandhi must now apologise."
(With agency inputs)
