ETV Bharat / state

Pegasus row: Gujarat Cong stages protest; demands SC-monitored probe

The Congress staged a demonstration in Gujarat's Gandhinagar over the alleged surveillance of its leaders and other dignitaries using Israeli spyware Pegasus and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the matter.

author img

By

Published : Jul 23, 2021, 7:12 PM IST

Pegasus row
Pegasus row

Ahmedabad (Gujarat): The Congress on Friday staged a demonstration in Gujarat's Gandhinagar over the alleged surveillance of its leaders and other dignitaries using Israeli spyware Pegasus and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the matter.

Congress leaders and workers, led by the party's state unit president, Amit Chavda, and Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Paresh Dhanani, first gathered outside Gandhinagar circuit house with banners and raised slogans against the BJP government at the Centre over the issue. Later, Chavda, Dhanani and other senior leaders met Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat at Raj Bhavan and handed over a memorandum, which was meant for President Ram Nath Kovind.

'The BJP is conspiring against political leaders, journalists and others by spying on them. This surveillance is akin to an undeclared emergency. This is a direct violation of people's right to privacy. We have handed over a memorandum, meant for the President, to the Governor seeking an SC-monitored probe into the entire matter,' Dhanani told reporters.

In the memorandum, the Gujarat Congress claimed that the Israeli spyware Pegasus might have been used by the Centre to topple elected Congress governments of Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

Read: India's 'Watergate' couldn’t have come at a worse moment

The opposition party also suspected that the mobile phones of their leaders might have been put on illegal surveillance by the BJP government during the 2017 and 2020 Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat. The memorandum claimed that phones of over 300 persons, including Rahul Gandhi and two Central ministers, were hacked using Pegasus for spying. The Congress alleged that instead of using this expensive software to spy on Pakistan and China, the BJP government chose to spy on the people of their own country.

While the French government has already ordered a probe over the issue after learning that some of their leaders and journalists were also spied on using the software, the BJP government is still denying the fact that phones of around 300 dignitaries were hacked in India, the Congress claimed, seeking an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on moral grounds.

An international media consortium had recently reported that over 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including two ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders, besides scores of business persons and activists in India could have been targeted for hacking using Pegasus software/spyware. The government has, however, dismissed allegations of any kind of surveillance on its part on specific people, saying it 'has no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever.

Read: Parl panel to question MeitY, MHA on Pegasus issue on July 28

(PTI)

Ahmedabad (Gujarat): The Congress on Friday staged a demonstration in Gujarat's Gandhinagar over the alleged surveillance of its leaders and other dignitaries using Israeli spyware Pegasus and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the matter.

Congress leaders and workers, led by the party's state unit president, Amit Chavda, and Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Paresh Dhanani, first gathered outside Gandhinagar circuit house with banners and raised slogans against the BJP government at the Centre over the issue. Later, Chavda, Dhanani and other senior leaders met Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat at Raj Bhavan and handed over a memorandum, which was meant for President Ram Nath Kovind.

'The BJP is conspiring against political leaders, journalists and others by spying on them. This surveillance is akin to an undeclared emergency. This is a direct violation of people's right to privacy. We have handed over a memorandum, meant for the President, to the Governor seeking an SC-monitored probe into the entire matter,' Dhanani told reporters.

In the memorandum, the Gujarat Congress claimed that the Israeli spyware Pegasus might have been used by the Centre to topple elected Congress governments of Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

Read: India's 'Watergate' couldn’t have come at a worse moment

The opposition party also suspected that the mobile phones of their leaders might have been put on illegal surveillance by the BJP government during the 2017 and 2020 Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat. The memorandum claimed that phones of over 300 persons, including Rahul Gandhi and two Central ministers, were hacked using Pegasus for spying. The Congress alleged that instead of using this expensive software to spy on Pakistan and China, the BJP government chose to spy on the people of their own country.

While the French government has already ordered a probe over the issue after learning that some of their leaders and journalists were also spied on using the software, the BJP government is still denying the fact that phones of around 300 dignitaries were hacked in India, the Congress claimed, seeking an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on moral grounds.

An international media consortium had recently reported that over 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including two ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders, besides scores of business persons and activists in India could have been targeted for hacking using Pegasus software/spyware. The government has, however, dismissed allegations of any kind of surveillance on its part on specific people, saying it 'has no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever.

Read: Parl panel to question MeitY, MHA on Pegasus issue on July 28

(PTI)

ETV Bharat Logo

Copyright © 2024 Ushodaya Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., All Rights Reserved.