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Tag: Shashi Tharoor

  • Hopeful IT panel will take up Pegasus; officials may have been instructed to skip last meet: Shashi Tharoor

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Chairman of the parliamentary panel on information technology Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said members “disrupted” the committee’s meeting on July 28 as they did not want the Pegasus allegations to be discussed and the officials who were to testify “appear to have been instructed not to attend”, but expressed hope the snooping issue would be taken up by the panel going forward.

    Tharoor, who has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to take action over ministry officials not attending the panel meet, also asserted that the actions of the three officials making “last-minute excuses” to skip the meeting were a “grievous assault” on such panels’ prerogatives to summon witnesses.

    In an interview with PTI, the Congress leader hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks that the Opposition was insulting Parliament, saying the government’s refusal to be answerable in any way, shape, or form on an issue of national and international importance, has made a “mockery of democracy and of the ordinary Indians the government claims to represent”.

    Avoiding discussion and accountability is the real insult to Parliament, the former Union minister and Thiruvananthapuram MP asserted.

    Asked if going forward the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology will be able to take up the Pegasus snooping issue, Tharoor said for two years now the IT committee has been conducting discussions on “Citizens’ data privacy and security and “cyber security, topics that also featured in its agenda under the previous chairman,P’s Anurag Thakur.

    The Pegasus issue therefore clearly falls under the purview of the IT committee and so it is only expected that its members will ask questions about it when these topics arise, he said.

    “It is no secret that the Committee’s meeting on its established agenda was disrupted byP members who did not want Pegasus to be discussed.

    It was unprecedented for 10 members to attend and to refuse to sign the register in order to deny the Committee a quorum,” Tharoor said.

    The panel was to hold a meeting on July 28 during which several issues including the Pegasus snooping allegations were expected to be discussed.

    It had also summoned officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Communications (Department of Telecommunications) on the subject ”Citizens data security and privacy”.

    However, the meeting could not take place as theP members of the panel did not sign the attendance register, even though they were present in the meeting room, leading to a lack of quorum.

    E-mail communications were received by the committee branch of the secretariat on July 28 afternoon from the three ministries/department that their representatives would not be able to appear before the committee due to Parliament-related work.

    “For good measure the three officials who were to testify that day appear to have been instructed not to attend, making last-minute excuses, which is a grievous assault on the prerogatives of parliamentary committees to summon witnesses,” Tharoor said.

    Asserting that accountability to Parliament is a cornerstone of democracy, Tharoor alleged that it is increasingly being tossed aside in the current regime’s “headlong rush to autocracy”.

    “Despite this disappointing approach, I am hopeful that we will be able to take up the question going forward,” he said.

    Asked if a joint parliamentary committee would be more suited to take up the Pegasus matter, Tharoor said, “I am not sure what a JPC can do that the IT Committee cannot.

    Nonetheless, I proposed from the start that what we really need is a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry headed by a serving or recently-retired judge to conduct a fair, impartial, and thorough investigation of the Pegasus issue.

    ” The judiciary has powers, and a degree of immunity from politics, that would make it better suited than a committee of MPs to explore all aspects of the Pegasus question, Tharoor argued.

    An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers, including that of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, union ministers Prahlad Singh Patel and Ashwini Vaishnaw, businessman Anil Ambani, and at least 40 journalists, were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Israeli firm NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.

    On comparisons of the Pegasus snooping row with the Watergate scandal that rocked Richard Nixon’s US presidency in the 1970s, Tharoor said though the parallels between the two episodes are many, the significant difference is precisely in the consequences it has had for the respective regimes that were in power when these events unfolded.

    “Whereas the US Congress’ investigation of Watergate led to the resignation of President Nixon himself, our Parliament has been denied even a discussion of the issue, barring the tepid statement by the new IT Minister who was himself on the list of those who were potentially targeted using Pegasus on the floor of the House,” Tharoor said.

    He said Pegasus is an issue that, given its grave implications for the country’s internal security and individual liberties, should have been addressed by either the Home Minister or the PM himself.

    Tharoor said the Opposition’s hopes rest with the Supreme Court, which is to hear the matter on Tuesday.

     

  • ‘Some elements’ reducing parliamentary panel on IT to ‘ping pong match’: Shashi Tharoor

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: With the BJP members of a parliamentary panel opposing his decision to question government officials on the Pegasus row, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who heads the committee, took a swipe at them on Thursday, saying “some elements” have chosen to reduce it to a “ping pong match” that is not in the spirit of Parliament.

    Asked about reports of BJP MP Nishikant Dubey moving a “privilege motion” against him, Tharoor told reporters that it has no “validity” as no constituted procedure was followed in introducing the motion that requires the Speaker to get the leave of the House before it can be introduced.

    Hitting back, Dubey said the Congress MP is unaware of the rules and has gone into “frustration” as he is focussed more on becoming the leader of his party in Lok Sabha in place of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

    Official sources said Dubey has moved a “privilege notice” in the Speaker’s office against Tharoor for allegedly misusing his power as the head of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology.

    It will be for Speaker Om Birla to decide the fate of the notice. The panel that was set to question government officials on Wednesday on the Pegasus spyware issue was postponed due to lack of quorum. BJP members of the panel who were present in the meeting room didn’t sign the attendance register in protest leading to a lack of quorum required for holding the meeting.

    Tharoor said he was very disappointed with the development. “I am very disappointed that some elements on some issues have chosen to reduce this committee to some sort of a ping pong match which I dont believe is in the spirit of Parliament or parliamentary committee,” he said.

    Asked about divisions among the panel’s members along political lines, the former union minister noted that when he was the chairman of the parliamentary committee on external affairs for five years where its members worked in an extremely amicable and cooperative spirit. “That committee also had a strong BJP majority,” he added.

    He also expressed his ignorance about Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra allegedly calling Dubey a “Bihari gunda” when the panel members had assembled for the meeting.

    “How can I tell you about a meeting which never happened? I am completely unaware if somebody allegedly said something at a meeting that never took place to somebody who was not there. How am I to be concerned about it?”

  • BJP’s Nishikant Dubey demands Shashi Tharoor’s removal as head of Parliamentary panel on IT 

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday demanded the removal of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor as the head of the Parliamentary panel on Information Technology, alleging that he was using his position in a discriminatory manner.

    Dubey raised the issue in the Lok Sabha, saying a letter has already been submitted to the Speaker in this regard on Tuesday.

    The parliamentary panel’s meeting that was set to question government officials on Wednesday on the Pegasus spyware issue was postponed due to lack of quorum.

    A number of members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology sat in Parliament to discuss ‘Citizens’ safety and date protection’. However, BJP members of the panel who were present in the meeting room didn’t sign the attendance register in protest leading to a lack of quorum required for holding the meeting.

    The panel’s chair Tharoor had said the panel members will question officials from the Information and Technology Ministry and the Home Ministry who will depose before it on the Pegasus issue.

    BJP members opposed this alleging that when the Congress is not allowing discussion on this issue in Parliament then it can’t be discussed in the committee meeting.

    “BJP members come to the IT Committee and refuse to sign the attendance register to deny a quorum. Further, all the witnesses called from MiEIT and MHA wrote in excuses and didn’t appear as called to testify. It’s very clear that Pegasus is a no go area for this government,” the Congress’ Karti Chidambaram, who is a member of the panel, said on Twitter.

    Since the beginning of the Monsoon Session on July 19, both Houses have seen repeated disruptions as opposition parties have been demanding a Supreme Court-monitored judicial probe in this matter.

    The 32-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT was scheduled to meet on Wednesday, for which the listed agenda was — Citizens’ data security and privacy — according to a notification by Lok Sabha Secretariat.

    The panel, which has the maximum members from the ruling BJP, had summoned officials from the Ministry of Electronics, Information and Technology and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

    An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on a list of potential targets for surveillance using Israeli firm NSO’s Pegasus spyware.

    Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi, two union ministers — Prahlad Singh Patel and Railways and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, businessman Anil Ambani, a former CBI chief, and at least 40 journalists are on the list on the leaked database of NSO.

    It is, however, not established that all the phones were hacked.

  • Pegasus issue ‘most important’ for IT panel; will question govt officials on this: Shashi Tharoor

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Parliamentary panel on Information Technology will question government officials on allegations relating to suspected phone tapping of politicians, journalists and others using Pegasus spyware, the committee chairman and senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Tuesday asserting that it is the “most important issue” for many members.

    The 32-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, for which the listed agenda is ”Citizens’ data security and privacy”, according to a notification issued by Lok Sabha Secretariat.

    The panel, which has the maximum members from the ruling BJP, has summoned officials from the Ministry of Electronics, Information and Technology and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

    ALSO READ | Court defers order on whether to put Shashi Tharoor on trial in his wife Sunanda’s death case

    An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on a list of potential targets for surveillance using Israeli firm NSO’s Pegasus spyware.

    Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi, two union ministers — Prahlad Singh Patel and Railways and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, businessman Anil Ambani, a former CBI chief, and at least 40 journalists are on the list on the leaked database of NSO.

    It is, however, not established that all the phones were hacked.

    “The subject of Citizens Data Privacy and Security is an approved agenda item of the committee and it was under this item that we had earlier discussed the Pegasus issue in November-December last year.

    So it’s a continuing issue.

    There would be other questions as well, as this is not necessarily the only issue.

    But, for many of us in the committee this is perhaps the most important issue,” Tharoor told PTI a day before the panel’s meeting.

    Since the beginning of the monsoon session on July 19, both houses have seen repeated disruptions as opposition parties have been demanding a Supreme Court-monitored judicial probe in this matter.

    “Parliament is not functioning because of this issue.

    People are anxious to find out about this and we are definitely likely to have questions for the government officials attending the meeting. We are going to see what the answers are,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the TMC-led government in West Bengal has set up a Commission of Inquiry to probe allegations of snooping on politicians, officials and journalists.

    Leaders from all parties have been maintaining that the entire opposition is united on this matter and they want a discussion on the Pegasus snooping issue in Parliament.

  • Court defers order on whether to put Shashi Tharoor on trial in his wife Sunanda’s death case

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Tuesday adjourned for three weeks the order on whether to put Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on trial in a case related to his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death in a luxury hotel here.

    Special Judge Geetanjli Goel, who was scheduled to pronounce the order on framing of charges against Tharoor, adjourned the matter for August 18, while allowing the prosecution to file certain documents.

    The documents include various judgements from the Supreme Court and high courts, along with written submissions.

    The court had earlier adjourned the matter for Tuesday in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

    The court had reserved order after hearing arguments from the counsel appearing for Delhi Police as well as Tharoor.

    ALSO READ | Congress leader Shashi Tharoor seeks SC judge-monitored probe into Pegasus snooping allegations

    During the arguments, while police had sought framing of various charges, including 306 (abetment of suicide), Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Tharoor, told the court that the investigation conducted by the SIT completely exonerated the politician of all the charges levelled against him.

    Pahwa sought Tharoor’s discharge in the case, saying there was no evidence against him to prove the offence punishable under either section 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) or 306 (abetment of suicide) of IPC.

    Pushkar was found dead in a suite of a luxury hotel in the city on the night of January 17, 2014.

    The couple was staying in the hotel, as the official bungalow of Tharoor was being renovated at that time.

    Tharoor was charged under sections 498A and 306 of the Indian Penal Code by Delhi police, but was not arrested in the case.

    He was granted bail on July 5, 2018.

  • Congress leader Shashi Tharoor seeks SC judge-monitored probe into Pegasus snooping allegations

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday demanded a Supreme Court judge-monitored probe into the Pegasus snooping allegations and indicated that opposition parties would continue to disrupt Parliament’s proceedings until the government agrees to a debate on it.

    He alleged that it appears that the government used public money for snooping for its “selfish political interests”.

    Last week, an international media consortium reported that over 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including those of two ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders besides scores of businesspersons and activists in India, could have been targeted for snooping through the Pegasus spyware of the Israeli firm NSO Group, which only sells the hacking software to “vetted” governments and government agencies.

    The government has been denying all opposition allegations in the matter.

    Speaking to reporters in the Parliament complex after the Lok Sabha was adjourned, Tharoor said, “We want the government to agree to a debate on the issue, but it is not ready. What we are saying is that if you (government) do not agree to this and answer our questions, then why we should allow you to transact your business.”

    He said other issues like price rise and contentious farm laws are also important for the opposition but the Pegasus row is a priority.

    Both Houses of Parliament have transacted little business since the Monsoon session began on July 19 as opposition parties have forced adjournments with their protests over a number of issues with the Pegasus row being the main one.

    Tharoor also made light of IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s statement on the issue in both Houses, saying he just shared his “Mann Ki Baat” without listening to the opposition. Vaishnaw had termed the snooping stories a bid to malign India, claiming that there is “no substance” to this sensationalism.

    The parliamentary panel on information technology led by Tharoor is likely to question top government officials, including from the home ministry, later this week on Pegasus snooping allegations, according to sources.

    The 32-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology is scheduled to meet on July 28. The agenda of the meeting is “Citizens data security and privacy”, according to a notification issued by Lok Sabha Secretariat.

  • Shashi Tharoor-headed Parliamentary panel to question Centre on Pegasus phone tapping row on July 28

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: A parliamentary standing committee, chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, will question officials of the Ministry of Information and Technology and the Ministry of Home Affairs in connection with the case of alleged illegal surveillance of journalists and political leaders using the Pegasus software.

    A meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology has been called on July 28. Officials of the Ministry of Information Technology, Home and Communications have been summoned to the meeting.

    The agenda for the meeting is ‘Evidence of the representatives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Communication (Department of Telecommunications) on the subject of ‘Citizens’ data security and privacy’.

    The meeting is scheduled to begin at 4 pm.

    Since the case came to light through a report by The Wire on Sunday, several opposition leaders have demanded an independent probe into the matter.

    ALSO READ | EXPLAINER | How does the Pegasus spyware work, and is your phone at risk?

    The names of over 40 Indian journalists and politicians appeared on the leaked list of potential targets for surveillance by an unidentified agency using Pegasus spyware, according to the report.

    According to the report, the journalists who were targeted work for some news organisations in the country including Hindustan Times, The Hindu, India Today, Indian Express and Network18. Many of them cover matters related to Defence, Home Ministry, Election Commission and Kashmir among others.

    However, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said there is ‘no substance’ in the media report regarding the use of Pegasus on WhatsApp, adding that the report was an attempt to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions.

    On July 19, the Bharatiya Janata Party hit out at the Congress for accusing the government of its role in the alleged illegal surveillance of journalists using Pegasus spyware and said that there is not a shred of evidence that shows the linkage of the government or the BJP.

    Outrightly rejecting the allegations, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad termed it as a pre-planned strategy by some to raise the Pegasus story just before the Monsoon session of the Parliament.

  • ‘Everyone knows who their intended audience is’: Shashi Tharoor hits out at BJP over population issue

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Amid a push for a population control policy by some Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday alleged the BJP’s motive of raising the issue is political and aimed at targeting a “particular community”.

    The former Union minister said the population debate is “utterly misplaced” and half a century out-of-date as a large majority of Indian states have achieved replacement levels of fertility.

    In an interview with PTI, Tharoor said the bigger challenge for India in the next 20 years will be to prepare for an ageing population, not a growing population.

    He alleged the ruling party is raising this issue out of “thinly-concealed motivation” to target a “particular community”.

    “It is no accident that the three states where the government is talking about reducing population are UP (Uttar Pradesh), Assam and Lakshadweep, where everyone knows who their intended audience is,” the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.

    “The Hindutva elements in our polity have not really studied the demographic issues.

    Their motive is purely political and communal,” he said when asked about the push for population control in UP and Assam.

    Tharoor’s remarks come days after Uttar Pradesh’s draft population control bill was made public and the Assam government proposed formulation of a policy in this regard.

    Both states are ruled by the BJP.

    The UP draft bill has provisions to debar people who have more than two children from the benefits of government schemes and proposes perks to those who follow the two-child policy.

    Also, some BJP MPs are set to introduce private members’ bills on population control and uniform civil code in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament, according to information from the secretariats of both Houses.

    The Monsoon session begins on July 19 and would conclude on August 13.

    Asked about the upcoming Parliament session and the key issues the Congress and the Opposition would raise, Tharoor said the government has been “so colossally inept’ that there are multiple issues “we need to raise in the public interest”.

    “The ineptitude of the government in its disastrous mismanagement of COVID, especially the blunder-laden vaccine policy; the continued failure to resolve the farmers’ agitation; the cratering economy, with GDP growth at its lowest in three decades,” he said listing the issues the Opposition needs to focus in Parliament.

    He also referred to the “price rise caused by extortionate fuel taxes; the worst unemployment ever recorded”, the French investigation into corruption in the Rafale deal” the situation on the Sino-Indian border and the crisis in Afghanistan.

    “And who knows what else may arise by Monday morning, given the government’s many unsavoury sins of omission and commission?” Tharoor said.

    On disruptions rather than debate becoming the norm in Parliament, the 65-year-old Congress leader said it was well known that he has been opposed to disruptions in principle and prefers to debate the issues.

    “But if you look at those disruptions in recent years that have been called by the Opposition, they have always been caused by the ruling party’s refusal to discuss a specific issue of burning national importance, which leaves the Opposition no choice but to draw attention to the issues the government wishes to avoid through disruption,” he said.

    If debates were allowed, disruptions would be unnecessary, he asserted.

    Tharoor urged the government to have the courage to debate any issue the Opposition wishes to raise.

    “That’s what Parliament is for. The government prefers to treat it as a notice-board where they can just announce their laws and policies,” he said.

    “If the ruling party treats Parliament with respect, which means agreeing to discuss the issues the Opposition raises and not just using their brute majority to push through the government’s agenda, I am sure the Opposition will reciprocate in kind,” he argued.

    Asked whether the Afghanistan situation would also be a key issue to be raised in Parliament, Tharoor said, “Yes, that’s why I mentioned it along with China as the two external affairs issues that require discussion.”

  • Reduce fuel prices significantly, rationalise GST: Shashi Tharoor 

    By PTI
    CHENNAI: Accusing the Narendra Modi-led dispensation of “using the tax on fuel as a means to fill the Centre’s coffers,” Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday demanded the government to significantly reduce taxes and cess on fuel and import duty on essential commodities.

    Besides, he also wanted the Centre to rationalise and simplify the GST rates on household items.

    “We demand significant reduction in taxes and cess on fuel, reduce import duty on essential commodities,” he said.

    Hitting out at the Centre for “complete disregard” for the common man, the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha MP claimed that the central government had collected about Rs 4.2 lakh crore last year by way of tax on petrol and diesel alone.

    “This is three times more than the sum collected during its previous regime,” he said, addressing a press conference at TNCC headquarters Sathyamurthy Bhavan here.

    The senior leader said during its tenure, the UPA government collected a cess of Rs 6.45 per litre on petrol and gave Rs 3 to the states.

    “Now the BJP government has dramatically raised the prices of fuel and still the state governments are given Rs 3,” he added.

    In a lighter vein he remarked, “I see some of you wearing face masks. It”s suffocating (to wear masks continuously). We are feeling all the more suffocated by the alarming rise in the prices of fuel during the last seven years of the BJP rule…it is outrageous,” Tharoor said.

    Even the price of LPG had gone above the roof, he said and blamed the “misrule and misadministration of economy” by the BJP government for the present crisis.

    The increase in petrol and diesel prices was the “worst in many ways,” he said and claimed that the centre gave little stimulus to the common man who is encountering problems due to the cascading effect on the prices of essential commodities.

    Tharoor said the country was not reeling under ordinary inflation.

    “There is neither a demand for goods due to a shortage in supplies nor so much money (circulating) with the people to afford as much as the prices go up,” he said.

    He also questioned the Centre”s contention of increase in international prices of oil.

    “The international prices are increasing slowly. The government has been using taxes on fuel as a way to increase its own coffers. It has complete disregard for the concerns of the common people,” the MP alleged.

    His party would raise this issue in addition to the closure of MSMEs in Tamil Nadu, farmers” agitation over the farm laws, increased deployment of Chinese forces near the border, and demand for a full-fledged enquiry into the Rafale deal when the Parliament session begins on Monday.

    “The Congress will also raise the issue of the government”s mismanagement of Covid-19 and the economy as well,” he added.

    Stating that the 12 to 18 per cent GST on basic household items like toothpaste, fruits and nuts made no sense, he said “GST is an indirect tax whereas the tax on income is direct and progressive because the rich pay more and the poor less.”

    “But the GST under Modi rule has become an aggressive tax regime because the poor and the rich pay the same percentage of tax, irrespective of their earning capacities,” Tharoor remarked.

    He also demanded the government extend a financial aid to the people and the unemployed.

    On the inter-state row between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the latter”s proposal to construct a dam on river Cauvery at Mekedatu, Tharoor batted for an amicable solution to the issue.

  • Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari in race to become Congress leader in Lok Sabha 

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: With the monsoon session of Parliament beginning next week, the Congress is looking at a leadership change in the Lok Sabha. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is expected to be replaced as the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha as part of the party’s organisational reshuffle.

    According to sources, Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari are leading the race to replace him. The names of Gaurav Gogoi, Ravneet Singh Bittu and Uttam Kumar Reddy are also doing the rounds. Sources further said former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will not take up that position.

    Chowdhury is also the president of the Congress unit in West Bengal, where the party was wiped out in the recent Assembly elections. Ever since, rumours about his axing as the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha were doing the rounds, citing the one-man-one-post rule, especially because he has no leverage now. The speculation has since strengthened with indications that the rule will be rigorously enforced now.

    As for Tewari, he is also in the race to head the troubled Punjab unit of the party, which is expected to be announced soon. The monsoon session will begin in July 19.Both Tharoor and Tewari are part of the group of 23 leaders who wrote to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi last year seeking clarity on leadership issues.

    The monsoon session is expected to be stormy with the Congress planning to demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Rafale jet deal. A French court’s recent order to probe charges of corruption and favouritism in the deal, gave impetus to the Congress campaign against the bilateral agreement. The government’s handling of the second wave of the pandemic, too, will be under the critical gaze of parliamentarians.