The Congress launched an all-out attack on the government, accusing the government of betraying the Parliament, betraying the Supreme Court, hijacking democracy and engaging in sedition.
Highlight
- Opposition parties indicated that they would vigorously raise the issue in the budget session
- Congress attacks government accusing it of cheating Parliament
- CPI General Secretary D Raja alleged that the government hid the truth on the issue from Parliament
A New York Times report claiming that India bought Pegasus spyware in 2017 as part of a USD 2 billion defense deal with Israel triggered a major controversy with the opposition on Saturday, alleging The government was involved in illegal espionage which is “treason”.
Opposition parties indicated that they would vigorously raise the issue in Parliament’s budget session starting Monday, even as Union Minister General (retd) VK Singh called The New York Times a ‘betel media’. A government source said the Pegasus software-related matter is being monitored by a committee under the Supreme Court, headed by retired Supreme Court judge RV Raveendran, and its report is awaited.
Responding to the NYT report, Singh, Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways and Civil Aviation, said on Twitter: “Can you trust the NYT?? They are known as ‘Supari Media’.
The Congress launched an all-out attack on the government, accusing the government of betraying the Parliament, betraying the Supreme Court, hijacking democracy and engaging in sedition. Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi said on Twitter, “The Modi government bought Pegasus to spy on our primary democratic institutions, politicians and the public. Government officials, opposition leaders, armed forces, judiciary all targeted with these phone tapping Gone. This is treason.”
“The Modi government has committed sedition,” he alleged. The Congress said that it wants to raise the issue in the budget session and demand accountability from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government on the floor of Parliament. The principal opposition party also urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognizance of the matter and initiate appropriate penal proceedings against the government for attempts to “deliberately and willfully cheat”.
When asked about the issue, senior Congress leader and chairman of the Parliamentary Panel on Communications and Information Technology Shashi Tharoor told PTI, “The government has decided not to be answerable to the IT committee regarding Pegasus, and many The stand taken by the people has been chosen. BJP members – not allowing quorum when the issue was to be discussed also means that the committee has not made any progress in establishing facts.”
“The Supreme Court is considering the matter and I wish it well. If our government allegedly used Pegasus, it would be a very serious threat to our democracy,” he said.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in a tweet, “The (Narendra) Modi government should explain on the affidavit why it bought this cyber weapon, who allowed its use, how the targets were selected and who got this report.” Silence on such an important issue only means acknowledging its criminal activity,” he said.
CPI General Secretary D Raja alleged that the government hid the truth on the issue from Parliament and now they are accountable. Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged in a tweet that the spyware was not used for defense purposes but to spy on the opposition and journalists.
“If BJP is there then it is possible. They have made the country a Bigg Boss show,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.
BJP MP Subramanian Swamy suggested that “the Modi government should refute the New York Times’ revelation today that it actually paid ₹300 crore from taxpayers’ money for the spyware Pegasus sold by the Israeli NSO company.”
“It means prima facie our government misled the Supreme Court and Parliament.
Watergate?” he asked. Meanwhile, Syed Akbaruddin, India’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, dismissed the “objection” as “complete nonsense” in the NYT report, which included Israel in the United Nations Economic and Social Council. India’s 2019 vote in support was cited to highlight the depth of ties following a deal that included the sale of Pegasus.
Tagging a tweet on the NYT report, Akbaruddin, who held the post at the UN from 2016-2020, said, “India’s objection to the UN vote is complete nonsense”.
Incidentally, India and Israel on Saturday completed 30 years of diplomatic relations. Media reports said Pegasus and a missile system were the “centerpiece” of a nearly USD 2 billion deal between India and Israel in 2017 for sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear.
The NYT, in its report titled ‘The Battle for the World’s Most Powerful Cyberweapon’, said Israeli firm NSO Group has been “selling its surveillance software on a subscription basis to law-enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world for nearly a decade”. , promising that it can do what no one else can – not a private company, not even a state intelligence service – make the encrypted communications of any iPhone or Android smartphone consistent and reliable. may crack.
The report also mentioned Modi’s visit to Israel in July 2017 – the first Indian prime minister to do so. “For decades, India had maintained a policy of ‘commitment to the Palestinian cause,’ and relations with Israel were cold. Modi’s visit, though notably cordial, was his and his (then Israeli) carefully staged moments. ) Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu walks barefoot together on a local beach,” it said.
He had a reason for warm feelings. Their countries had agreed to the sale of a package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth about USD 2 billion – with Pegasus and a missile system as the centerpiece.
Months later, Netanyahu made a rare state visit to India. And in June 2019, India voted in support of Israel in the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations to deny observer status to the Palestinian human rights organization. It was a first for the country.” The report said.
Last year, controversy erupted over the alleged use of Pegasus for targeted surveillance in India. The government, however, had rubbished the allegations of any surveillance on its part on specific people.
Last October, the Supreme Court set up a three-member independent expert panel to investigate the alleged use of Pegasus for targeted surveillance in India, noting that the state does not have a “free pass” every time a national security threat arises. and that the judiciary by mere invocation cannot become a “silent spectator” and does not intimidate it.
The NYT report states that the FBI also purchased a version of Pegasus. Last summer the FBI “decided not to deploy NSO weapons.
It was around this time that a consortium of news organizations called Forbidden Stories made new revelations about NSO cyber weapons and their use against journalists and political dissidents. The Pegasus system is currently inactive at the facility in New Jersey”.
An international investigative association claimed that several Indian ministers, politicians, activists, businessmen and journalists were potentially targeted by the software. The report states that since 2011 when NSO introduced “Pegasus” to the global market, it has “helped Mexican authorities to nab Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the drug lord known as El Chapo”.
European investigators have quietly used Pegasus to thwart terrorist plots, fight organized crime and, in one case, dismantle a global child-abuse ring, identifying dozens of suspects in more than 40 countries.
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