Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday defended the Government decision on monitoring of computers by 10 security and intelligence agencies as he praised the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for the cracking the ISIS-styled terror module in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

“Well done NIA for cracking the dangerous terrorist module,” Jaitley said.

Supporting the government move, the finance minister tweeted a question, “Would this crackdown of the terrorist module by NIA have been possible without interception of electronic communications?”

Slamming the previous UPA government and taking a dig at former finance minister P Chidambaram, he asked, “Were the maximum intercepts done during the UPA Government? Surely George Orwell was not born in May 2014”.

He further said “national security and sovereignty were paramount” adding that “life and personal liberty will survive only in a strong democratic nation – not in a terrorist-dominated state”.

The Cyber and Information Security division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, in a major step, authorised 10 investigating agencies to intercept and monitor information in any computer source. The order was signed by Union Home Secretary, Rajiv Gauba.

Read | Govt empowers probe agencies to snoop on any computer, intercept data

With the new order, the probe agencies can intercept, monitor and decrypt any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer source under 69 (1) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Reacting to the development, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram likened the order with the Orwellian state — a condition that George Orwell identified as destructive for a free society.

“Not studied the matter, but if anybody is going to monitor computers then it is an Orwellian state,” he was quoted as saying by media reports.

CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury accused the government of treating every Indian as a criminal.

Meanwhile, earlier on Wednesday, the NIA conducted searches at 17 locations in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi in connection with its probe into a new ISIS module styled as ‘Harkat ul Harb e Islam’, which was in an advanced stage of carrying out a series of blasts.

Read | 25 kg explosives seized in new ISIS module bust in UP, Delhi; VIPs, politicians were targets

The group was allegedly planning to carry out blasts in north India, especially in the national capital.

A total of 10 accused were arrested after an initial interrogation of the 16 suspects. Gang leader of the module, one Mufti Sohail who stays in Delhi and is a native of Amroha in UP where he works at a mosque, was also among the arrested.

Large quantities of explosive material, weapons and ammunition including a country made rocket launcher have been recovered so far, Inspector General of NIA Alok Mittal had informed.

According to the agency, the terror module’s targets were political persons, other important personalities and security installations.