Updated: September 14, 2020 7:13:41 am
On the list: Families of key politicians: Gandhis to Pawars, Scindias to Sangmas and Badals; at least 70 mayors; legislators from J&K and the Northeast.
In the overseas key information database (OKIDB) developed by the Shenzhen information technology company with ties to the Chinese government and the Communist Party, politicians represent the largest group of high-profile people ever they monitor through their online presence.
From ministers to mayors, sarpanches and legislators to members of parliament, the The database includes at least 1,350 politicians and legislators. in all parties: BJP, Congress, Left and almost all regional teams; it spread across the country from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in the north to Odisha in the east, Maharashtra in the west, and Tamil Nadu in the south.
How The Indian Express Examined through granular data during a two-month-long investigation, it found that the database that the Shenzhen-based company took just two years to build using artificial intelligence and big data techniques included:
* At least 700 politicians with direct mention and another 460 people who are close relatives of politicians.
* A ‘family list’ of more than 100 politicians, in what appears to be an attempt to create a ‘family tree’.
* At least 350 current and former MPs; of which several were / are members of the House Committees.
In the OKIDB there are at least 40 former and current chief ministers and vice ministers or their families. They are not only from states governed by the BJP or by Congress, but also from states led primarily by regional parties, including Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal, and Delhi. These include Hemant Soren from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Manish Sisodia from AAP, Naveen Patnaik from BJD, Mamata Banerjee from TMC and Uddhav Thackeray from Shiv Sena.
Also on the list are a dozen current and former state governors.
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Significantly, OKIDB tracks 70 mayors and deputy mayors of large and small cities in India: from Hisar in Haryana and Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh to those in Jodhpur, Agra, Guwahati, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Srinagar, Ghaziabad, Bengaluru, Pune , Vadodara, Junagadh, Panaji and Jalandhar. In China, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a city and exercises administrative power, even if he answers to the municipal secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
Also, in terms of numbers alone, most of the politicians being tracked belong to the two big national parties, BJP and Congress, with at least 200 of each. Politicians from the left-wing parties, including the CPI, the CPM and the Forward Bloc, are also in good numbers: there are at least 60 who are current or former MLAs and MPs who belong to one of the left-wing parties.
Some of the prominent families being traced are the Gandhis (both of the late Rajiv Gandhi and the late Sanjay Gandhi), the Pawars (Sharad, Supriya), the Scindias (Jyotiraditya and wife), Sangmas (daughter and sons of the late Purno Sangma ) and the Badals. Interestingly, on the list are also families of Bollywood actors who ventured into politics, such as Hema Malini, Anupam Kher, Moon Moon Sen, Paresh Rawal, and the late Vinod Khanna.
At least two former presidents, the late Pranab Mukherjee and the late APJ Abdul Kalam or their relatives; Five former prime ministers – the late Rajiv Gandhi, the late PV Narasimha Rao, the late AB Vajpayee, HD Deve Gowda and Manmohan Singh or their close / associated relatives – are among the politicians who are part of the OKIDB.
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Many former states CMs or their relatives under surveillance are Kamal Nath, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Ashok Chavan, Siddaramaiah, Shankar Vaghela, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Kiran Kumar Reddy, Raman Singh, late Manohar Parrikar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, late N Janardhana Reddy, late SR Bommai, late M Karunanidhi, and late Jyoti Basu.
Also on OKIDB are Shashi Tharoor, Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda, Meenakshi Lekhi, Abhishek Banerjee (Mamata’s nephew), Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, and Divya Spandana.
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