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A thread on Twitter, on Wednesday, 21 October, shared a series of screenshots of an email by the Indian consulate in Hamburg asking an association to collect data on Sikh diaspora in Germany on “high priority”.
The email read, “The Ministry is in the process of compiling the data of Sikh diaspora residing in Germany. You are kindly requested to compile a list with the names and address of Sikhs living in your area for onward transmission to the Ministry. We would appreciate if you could accord High priority to the above list and email the same to us latest by 21 October 2020.”
THREAD@IndiainHamburg Dear Cgi, this email has been circulated around, asking people to compile a list 'with names and address' of *sikh diaspora* residing in Germany for onward transmission. (1/n) pic.twitter.com/naDNoBaqpp
— Dr. Manuvie (@ritumbra) October 21, 2020
Madan Lal Raigar, Consul General of Hamburg, confirmed to The Quint that the email was indeed sent by the embassy but the intentions were not to create any suspicion.
As a resident of Europe I thought this email was fake so I wrote to your verified handle to confirm the authenticity of the email. From your verified handle you confirmed that the email is indeed from the counsulate sharing the official email. I raised further concerns (2/n) pic.twitter.com/lyRTNyM67X
— Dr. Manuvie (@ritumbra) October 21, 2020
Dr. Ritumbra Manuvie, a researcher at Groningen, in a thread of tweets questioned the Consulate’s move to collect data without the consent of the people concerned.
So let me ask you these questions publically
Why the email asks members of public to collect information on 'Sikh diaspora' and send it as 'high priority'?
It is possible for diaspora to voluntarily furnish their information? Sikh or non-Sikh should not matter. (3/n)— Dr. Manuvie (@ritumbra) October 21, 2020
She wrote, “Why is the information on Sikh diaspora being collected without a proper ‘consent’ of those whose information is being collected? Why have the CGI not invited the Sikh diaspora to furnish their information instead of asking others to collect a list of names and address?”
Why is the information on Sikh diaspora being collected without a proper 'conscent' of those whose information is being collected?
Why have the cgi not invited the sikh diaspora to furnish their information instead of asking other to collect list of names and address?(4/n)— Dr. Manuvie (@ritumbra) October 21, 2020