The Secretary-General of the Confederation of All India Traders, Praveen Khandelwal, has urged the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology to ban Battlegrounds Mobile India, citing security concerns.
This is not the first time a ban on BGMI has been sought. Politicians had also voiced opposition to the game's release following the pre-registration process going live in May.
The MLA from Arunachal Pradesh, Ninong Ering; Member of Parliament from Telangana, Arvind Dharmapuri; Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha, Abhishek Singhvi, and the MLA from Maharashtra, Ashok Nete, had spoken against Battlegrounds Mobile India's release.
Praveen Khandelwal calls for a ban on Battlegrounds Mobile India
In a letter addressed to Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Minister of Law & Justice, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology, the CAIT has urged the ministry to take action against the pre-launch of Battlegrounds Mobile India.
The letter read:
"We are of the considered opinion that as a responsible platform, Google should not allow its platform for apps that endanger India's national security and data privacy of millions of its citizens. It is noteworthy to mention that various Public Representatives from across India and millions of concerned citizens have already pointed out the dangers of the relaunch of the game and have asked for strict action against these companies for trying to side-step these laws."
It added:
"We request your good self to please immediately take cognizance of this grave issue and take necessary action to ensure that Google, going forward, does not allow and help these mischievous and dangerous companies in circumventing and disregarding the India law and legal process and questions India's territorial integrity."
The Early Access for Battlegrounds Mobile India was opened for all users recently, and players have stormed the Google Play Store to play the game. The response has been overwhelming, as live streams by content creators like Mortal, Scout, and Dynamo peaked at more than 200K live watching.
The game already has 5 million downloads, and the developer has already provided the reward for this milestone.