Praising the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for busting an ISIS-style terror module during raids on across Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday hit out at the Opposition for criticising the Modi government over the recent computer surveillance order.  

"National security and sovereignty are paramount. Life and personal liberty will survive only in a strong democratic nation – not in a terrorist dominated State," Jaitley said in a series of tweets.

"Would this crackdown of the terrorist module by NIA have been possible without interception of electronic communications? Well done NIA for cracking the dangerous terrorist module," he said, adding,"Were the maximum intercepts done during the UPA Government? Surely George Orwell was not born in May, 2014."

The Ministry of Home Affairs had last week issued an order giving 10 central agencies, including the CBI, the ED and the Delhi Police among others to "intercept, monitor and decrypt any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer".

The NIA on Wednesday busted an ISIS-inspired terror group and arrested 10 suspects, who it said were planning suicide attacks and serial blasts targeting politicians and government installations in Delhi and other parts of north India.

The 'highly radicalised' group was masterminded by a man who worked as a mufti or Muslim legal expert at a madrasa in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh. Mohammed Suhail, 29, was training young men to carry out strikes targeting politicians and government installations in Delhi and other parts of north India, the NIA said.