The Modi government has asked WhatsApp to withdraw the unilateral changes to its privacy policy as they take away choice from Indian users and are invasive, unfair and unacceptable.

“The proposed changes raise grave concerns regarding the implications for the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens… Therefore, you are called upon to withdraw the proposed changes,” the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) wrote to WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart on Monday.

The MeitY letter was issued a day after the Delhi High Court responded to a petition by saying that WhatsApp’s new privacy policy was a “voluntary” thing that people can choose not to accept, though they would not be able to avail themselves of the services. “Even Google Maps captures all your data and stores it,” the court said.

The ministry said India is home to the largest user base of WhatsApp globally and is one of its biggest markets.

The proposed changes to the WhatsApp Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, without giving users an option to opt-out, “raise grave concerns regarding the implications for the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens,” it wrote.

The ministry asked WhatsApp to reconsider its approach to information privacy, freedom of choice and data security. It is of “great concern” that Indian users have not been given the choice to opt out of this data sharing with Facebook companies and are being given less choice compared to the app’s European users, the letter said.

“This differential and discriminatory treatment of Indian and European users is attracting serious criticism and betrays a lack of respect for the rights and interest of Indian citizens who form a substantial portion of WhatsApp’s user base,” it said.

The ministry asked WhatsApp to respond to 14 questions including on the categories of user data it collected, whether it profiled customers based on usage and cross-border data flows.

WhatsApp had on January 16 delayed the introduction of the new privacy policy after user backlash over the sharing of user data and information with the parent company, Facebook Inc. Several WhatsApp users had also switched to rival messengers such as Signal and Telegram .

Last year, the California-based Facebook had invested $5.7 billion in Reliance Jio as part of a plan to draw tens of millions of traditional shop owners to use digital payments via WhatsApp. With 400 million users in the country, WhatsApp has big plans for India’s growing digital payments space, including selling health insurance via partners.

Stating that Indians should be properly respected, the ministry said “any unilateral changes to the WhatsApp Terms of Service and Privacy would not be fair and acceptable”. It asked WhatsApp to provide details of the services provided by it in India, categories of data collected and permissions and consents sought.