LEAD

Days after it was reported that his phone was on a list of potential targets for surveillance using the Pegasus spyware, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said Friday that not only all his phones are “tapped” but his security personnel had been asked to report to their seniors everything he said.

Gandhi accused the BJP government of having used the Pegasus spyware, which he called a weapon, against the Indian state and institutions.

Gandhi said he was not a potential target. “My phone is tapped. It is clearly tapped, so it is not a potential target.”

“It is not only this phone, every single phone of mine is tapped. And let me tell you another thing, I get phone calls from IB people who tap my phone. They call me up and say please be aware that we are tapping your phone. Also, by the way, my security people tell me that they have to debrief what I say and they have to report to their seniors everything I say. So, I am under no pretensions that I am not tapped,” Gandhi told reporters.

Farmers protest and Pegasus snooping scandal echoed in the capital on Thursday as Congress MPs led a protest in the Parliament complex demanding withdrawal of controversial farm laws. All the Congress state units undertook march to Raj Bhavans in their states to amplify the demand for a judicial inquiry into the snooping controversy and resignation of home minister Amit Shah as also an investigation into the role of PM Narendra Modi.

Led by Rahul Gandhi, Congress members protested in front of the Gandhi statue in the Parliament campus, slamming the Modi government.

Barely a fortnight before the global expose on the alleged misuse of its flagship spyware, Israel’s NSO Group, in a policy document, acknowledged that “the customers for Pegasus are states and state agencies” who may be “tempted to limit fundamental freedoms”.

Prepared on June 30, the policy document said NSO Group has 60 customers — states and state agencies — in 40 countries. Of these, 51% are intelligence agencies, 38% law enforcement entities and 11% military.

Titled ‘Transparency and Responsibility Report 2021’, the policy document identified the potential misuse of NSO Group’s spyware against politicians, NGOs, journalists, lawyers etc among the “most salient human rights risks” associated with it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Parliament floor leaders Tuesday that the Union government and the states must work together as a team and rise above politics to tackle the spread of the pandemic.

Maintaining that India is in a better position than many countries in terms of the ratio of population hit by Covid-19, the Prime Minister underlined that India cannot afford to lower the guard. He referred to the resurgence of Covid-19 infection in some countries like the UK.

The nearly three-hour meeting at Parliament House Annexe to brief floor leaders on the government’s management of the pandemic saw division in the Opposition ranks.

With opposition sloganeering preventing the introduction of newly inducted ministers in the Lok Sabha Monday, PM Modi hit back at BJP’s political rivals, saying certain people are not ready to stomach that a large number of farmers, Dalits, adivasis, women and those from backward castes have been included in his council of ministers.

The PM said it would have been a matter of happiness had the induction of ministers from less privileged backgrounds been greeted, but some people are not ready to appreciate their progress. Later, defence minister Rajnath Singh objected to the uproar and said this was the first time he had seen a Prime Minister not being allowed to introduce his new ministers. Opposition leaders like Congress’s Manish Tewari disputed the claim and said former PM Manmohan Singh had faced similar hurdles in Parliament.