News Analysis India

Tag: Snooping row

  • AASU head says not afraid of being spied on by Pegasus, fight against CAA to continue 

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Student body AASU’s Chief Adviser Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya on Thursday said that he is not afraid of being targeted by Pegasus phone surveillance and his struggle against the CAA will continue.

    In its series of expose on the alleged Pegasus phone spying scandal, The Wire news portal published its latest article on Wednesday stating that phone numbers of two prominent Assamese personalities also figured in the list of around 50,000 numbers worldwide.

    All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) Chief Adviser Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya and ULFA (pro-talk faction) General Secretary Anup Chetia’s numbers are part of the list, which was exposed and analysed by a global alliance of media publications.

    A day after his name popped up in the spying controversy, Bhattacharya expressed surprise and shock, and termed the entire act of putting scores of Indian citizens under surveillance as “anti-national”.

    “In this situation, if it is thought that we will be scared with taping of our phones, it is wrong. We will not be afraid. If it is thought that we will not continue with our non-violent struggle to protect the interests of the indigenous people of Northeast, that will not happen.

    “Our zeal to fight for our rights will continue, nobody can stop us. We are working for protection of the interests of the indigenous people of the Northeast. Our high command is the people of the region.

    We are working under the guardianship of the people,” Bhattacharya told PTI in an interview. He said that whatever he or his colleagues talk over phone, everything is transparent and they say the same thing to the people and the media, and there is nothing to hide.

    The AASU leader asserted that the core issue is very clear and it is the influx of illegal foreigners, which is a threat to the identity of the indigenous people of Assam and the Northeastern region.

    “Assam Agitation took place because of this and the Assam Accord was signed. But it has not been implemented and the situation became more grave. Northeast was becoming a dumping ground with the imposition of Citizenship (Amendment) Act,” he added.

    The CAA is a violation of the Assam Accord and it is “anti-Constitution, communal, anti-indigenous and anti-Northeast”, Bhattacharya said.

    A six-year agitation demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants was launched by the AASU in 1979.

    It had culminated in the signing of the Assam Accord on August 15, 1985 in the presence of the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

    “That is why the anti-CAA movement in the Northeast was very strong. Our method of the movement was different from other parts of the country and it was non-violent. It will continue,” he added.

    Talking about the Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, Bhattacharya said the Constitutional safeguard has to be given to the indigenous people of the state.

    The CAA seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis entering India on or before December 31, 2014 from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after five years of residence here.

    As per Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.

    The bone of contention since the signing of the Accord in 1985 has been the definition of the Assamese people.

    “That is why a high-powered committee was formed by the Central government. It submitted its report more than a year ago. The Centre had given an assurance to implement it in letter and spirit, but nothing has been done yet,” he said.

    As per the Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.

    On the Pegasus controversy, Bhattacharya said, “Israel is a foreign nation. A foreign nation taking permission of Indian government and spying on Indian citizens, this is just the murder of democracy. It is a dangerous and fascist attack on privacy, against the Constitution and an anti-India act.”

    About the Indian government’s continuous denial of the snooping act, he said if it was done without the knowledge of the Centre, it is more dangerous.

    “Then the offices of the prime minister, home minister, defence minister, our internal security — everything can be under surveillance. It is a threat to the integrity, sovereignty and internal security of the country. It is basically a serious threat to the country,” Bhattacharya said.

    The AASU leader also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to tell the truth to the people of the nation whether the surveillance has the government’s sanction or it is being done by a foreign nation without its knowledge.

    ULFA (pro-talk) General Secretary Anup Chetia, the other person whose number was also found in the Pegasus leaked list, said on Wednesday he was not surprised that his phone was allegedly being tapped.

    “It is natural that the security agencies would tap our phones. We have to see our past also. We fought against the state and declared a war against India. However, I don’t know if Pegasus infected my phone or not,” the insurgent leader, who is now part of a dialogue process, said.

    Like Bhattacharya, Chetia too was vocal about his opposition to the CAA.

    A global media consortium has recently reported that over 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including of two central ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders besides scores of business persons and activists in India, could have been targeted for hacking using the Israeli spyware Pegasus, which is usually supplied to government agencies.

    The Indian government and Israeli surveillance company NSO Group, which sells Pegasus spyware worldwide, have refuted the reports.

  • ‘Worse than the Watergate scandal: Mamata Banerjee on Pegasus snooping row

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday claimed that the snooping on Supreme Court judges, journalists and political leaders among others using the Pegasus spyware, news of which broke earlier this week, was “worse than the Watergate scandal” which broke in the US during the Nixon presidency.

    ALSO READ | West Bengal BJP accuses Mamata govt of snooping using PegasusBanerjee likened the scandal which allegedly involved using a spyware developed by a Israeli firm to infect the mobile phones of hundreds of Indians in a bid to spy on them to the imposition of a “super-emergency in the country”.

    The chief minister claimed that all impartial institutions have been politicised by the BJP-led Government.

    “Pegasus is worse than Watergate scandal; it is super emergency,” Banerjee told a press conference at the state secretariat here.

    “They (BJP leadership) don’t trust even their own officers and ministers,” she said, adding “I have heard they tapped the phones of several RSS people” .

    The chief minister recently managed to win a high voltage electoral battle to elect the state legislature after a bitter campaign where she was pitted against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

  • Snooping row: TMC’s Shantanu Sen snatches Pegasus statement from minister, tears it in Rajya Sabha 

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP snatched papers from Communications and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday and tore those as the minister was about to make a statement on the alleged snooping row using Israeli spyware Pegasus.

    TMC, Congress and other opposition party members, who had earlier forced two adjournments of the proceedings in the Rajya Sabha, rushed into the well of the House as Vaishnaw was called to make a statement on the issue.

    TMC MP Shantanu Sen snatched the papers from the hands of the minister, tore and flung those in the air.

    This stopped the minister in his steps from making the statement and he said he was laying a copy of it on the table of the House.

    Deputy Chairman Harivansh asked the members to desist from unparliamentary behaviour, before adjourning the proceedings of the House for the day.

    “Please do not adhere to this unparliamentary practice,” Harivansh said, adding that the report that all MPs want to hear has now been laid on the table of the House and it can be discussed.

    He called the minister to read his statement and Vaishnaw read out a few sentences before the ruckus drowned his voice and he said he was laying the statement on the table of the House.

    “You do not want a discussion on an issue you have been agitated about…this is undemocratic,” the deputy chairman remarked.

    He said the minister has laid the statement on the table of the House and asked if the MPs want to ask him any questions on that.

    But the opposition MPs continued to raise slogans against the alleged snooping controversy.

    In the ruckus, the deputy chairman sought laying of the parliamentary committee reports that could not be laid at the scheduled hour in the morning due to opposition protests.

    Soon after, he adjourned the proceedings for the day.

    The statement that the minister laid on the table of the House was similar to the one he had made on July 19, a day after reports appeared of journalists, political rivals and critics of the government being targeted through surveillance using Israeli company NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.

    In the statement, Vaishnaw, whose phone number was among those listed as compromised by Washington Post, called the reports an “attempt to malign the Indian democracy and its well-established institutions”.

    “A highly sensational story was published by a web portal last night. Many over-the-top allegations made around this story,” he said.

    “The press reports appeared a day before the monsoon session of Parliament. This can’t be a coincidence.”

    “In the past, similar claims were made regarding the use of Pegasus…. Those claims had no factual basis and were categorically denied by all parties,” he added.

    Amid the ruckus, Vaishnaw implored all members of the House to “examine the issue on facts and logic”.

    The phone numbers of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa and others were said to be the potential targets of surveillance using the Pegasus spyware, which allows clients to infiltrate phones and monitor text messages, camera feeds and microphones.

    Earlier in the day, opposition MPs stalled the proceedings in the Upper House of Parliament, forcing two adjournments.

    The proceedings were first adjourned for an hour till 12 noon and then till 2 pm — all within minutes.

    Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tried to raise the issues of income-tax raids on newspaper group Dainik Bhaskar, but was disallowed by the chair.

  • Snooping row: Congress protests at Raj Bhawan in Rajasthan 

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: The Congress staged a sit-in at the Raj Bhawan here on Thursday, demanding the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and a judicial inquiry into the Pegasus snooping controversy.

    State Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra, party MLAs and workers participated in the protest.

    Targeting the Union government, Dotasra said Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not fulfil the promises he had made before coming to power.

    He termed the alleged snooping as a violation of the right to privacy enshrined in the Constitution and reiterated the demand for the resignation of Amit Shah and a judicial inquiry into the matter.

    The legislators who protested included ministers Mamta Bhupesh, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Sukhram Bishnoi.

  • Pegasus scandal part of larger architecture to consolidate authoritarian Hindu regime: CPM

    In the latest editorial of its mouthpiece, Peoples Democracy, the Left party said the bigger picture of the issue must not be obscured.

  • UP Congress chief, party leaders detained ahead of silent march against snooping on Rahul Gandhi 

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu and other party leaders were detained while trying to take out a silent march against the alleged snooping on party leader Rahul Gandhi.

    Lallu had given a call for taking out a silent march from Swasthya Bhawan to Raj Bhavan here and submitting a memorandum against the alleged spying on Gandhi.

    UPCC chief Lallu and other senior party leaders were placed under house arrest on Wednesday night with a heavy deployment of force, party spokesman Ashok Singh said.

    On Thursday morning, when Lallu moved out of his house and insisted on leaving for Swasthya Bhawan, police misbehaved and stopped him saying that he does not have permission to hold a march, Singh said.

    As Congressmen raised slogans and insisted on moving ahead, UPCC president and other party leaders were arrested, he added.

    Singh also said Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Misra Mona, senior leaders Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Dipak Misra among others have also been placed under house arrest since Wednesday night.

    Lallu said this government does not honour the right to privacy, and attacks on the independence of individuals cannot be justified.

    The Congress party will never deviate from fighting against this attack on democracy, the spokesman said quoting the UPCC chief.

    We had a plan to reach the Swasthya Bhawan to start the march in five groups.

    When stopped from doing so, the partymen staged protests at different places in the city and were arrested, Singh said.

    All the arrested Congressmen have been taken to Eco Garden, he added.

  • Pegasus row: Mamata says Modi govt wants to establish ‘surveillance state’, calls for Opposition unity

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Latching on to the Pegasus snooping row, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday accused the Modi government of trying to establish a “surveillance state”.

    She also asked the Supreme Court to take cognizance of snooping scandal that purportedly targeted politicians, activists, journalists and even judges using the Pegasus spyware, and asked Opposition parties to come together to defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

    “BJP wants to convert a democratic country into a surveillance state rather than a welfare state,” she said addressing the Martyrs’ Day rally in Kolkata online.

    The TMC observes Martyrs’ Day on July 21 every year to commemorate the killing of 13 people in police firing on a rally of Youth Congress workers against the then Left Front government in 1993 when Banerjee was in the Congress.

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

    The TMC supremo also accused the Centre of spending the money collected through tax on fuel and other commodities for spying using a “dangerous software” instead of funding welfare schemes.

    “I know my phone is being tapped. All opposition leaders know that our phones are being tapped. I can’t speak to NCP leader Sharad Pawarji or other opposition leaders or chief ministers because we are being snooped and spied on by the Centre. But snooping on us won’t save them in 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” Banerjee told the rally.

    Slamming the BJP-led NDA government for its “monumental failure” in handling the second wave of the COVID crisis, the TMC supremo termed the saffron party a “highly loaded virus party” which needs to be defeated at any cost.

    ALSO READ | Kamal Nath demands probe into Pegasus snooping case by Supreme Court judge 

    Banerjee thanked leaders of the Congress, NCP, SP, Shiv Sena and several other parties for joining her rally virtually from New Delhi.

    She said all those opposed to the BJP and its “authoritarian regime” should defeat it.

    “BJP has taken the country to darkness, we all have to come forward to take it to new light,” the Bengal leader said.

    “Khela Hobe” (will play), she declared, renewing the battle cry she made during the state assembly elections, adding the fight will continue till BJP is ousted from power.

  • Congress should refrain from games that lower country’s image: BJP’s Khattar on Pegasus snooping row 

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday hit out at the Congress over its attack on the central government over the Pegasus snooping row, and accused its leaders of joining hands with those forces who want to tarnish India’s image.

    He claimed that there is no evidence to link the government with the matter.

    Addressing a press conference here, the senior BJP leader also questioned the credentials of those behind the story and alleged “everyone knows their leanings”.

    He also targeted Amnesty International, saying the agenda of the organisation, “which had failed to disclose its source of funding, is well-known”.

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

    Hitting out at the Congress, he alleged that it leaders are joining hands with those forces who want to tarnish India’s image.

    “They should refrain from playing such games which lower the country’s image in the eyes of the world… Today, India has reached to some level in the world which is because of policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and of the NDA government. The way they have raked up controversy, we condemn it.

    “By raking up this controversy under a conspiracy, they are trying to systematically assault the country’s prestige, which we condemn,” Khattar said.

    Khattar also questioned the timing of the story coming as it did a day before Parliament’s Monsoon session began on Monday.

    “The entire row is timed to disrupt Parliament and build a baseless agenda,” he said and also raked up snooping allegations levelled against the opposition party in the past, including a row involving then Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram.

    He further claimed everyone knows under what circumstances the government led by former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar fell in 1991 when the Congress decided to withdraw support in the wake of a controversy over spotting of two intelligence operatives outside the residence of its leader at 10, Janpath in the national capital.

    Further targeting Congress, he said it has been revealed that around 9,000 phones were monitored during the previous UPA regime.

    ALSO READ | Kamal Nath demands probe into Pegasus snooping case by Supreme Court judge 

    He said Parliament would have taken up many important issues pertaining to various sections, including the youth, women, farmers and backward classes, but the Opposition stalled the proceedings.

    “Congress’ target has always been that when some good things are to take shape in the country, it joins hands with some forces to derail things,” he alleged.

    “They are not creating obstacles in running of the government, but in the country’s progress. …Congress’ black deeds will never succeed in the country,” he said.

    When asked about the claim that Pegasus software/spyware is sold only to government, Khattar quipped, “No, private agencies also procure it from them. Now, it may be that private agencies take it from them privately and not declare it.”

     An international media consortium reported on Sunday that over 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including of 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.

  • Pegasus row: Snooping may have helped BJP topple Kumaraswamy govt in 2019, claims report

    By Online Desk
    Before the toppling of the JD(S)-Congress government in Karnataka two years ago, phone numbers linked to the HD Kumaraswamy regime were possible targets for surveillance, claimed the latest revelations on the Pegasus snooping row published in The Wire.

    The report links the fall of the government in July 2019 and the BJP’s takeover to alleged snooping. However, there is no evidence to establish that the phones were hacked.

    The phone numbers of the then Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, as well as close aides of the then Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah, were possible targets for snooping just before the toppling of the government, according to the report.

    ALSO READ | Won’t allow Parliament to function till Pegasus issue is discussed: Opposition parties

    The records indicate that the phone numbers of some key political players in Karnataka appear to have been selected around the time when an intense power struggle was taking place between the BJP and the JD(S)-Congress-led state government after 17 legislators of the ruling alliance abruptly resigned to force a trust vote in the assembly, added the report.

    Their phone numbers are part of a leaked database accessed by the non-profit French media Forbidden Stories and shared with an international media consortium, which also includes the Washington Post and the Guardian, as part of what is called The Pegasus Project.

    The report said these numbers were spotted in a review of records of numbers that were of interest to an Indian client of Israel’s NSO group, which sells its Pegasus spyware only to governments. 

  • ‘Amnesty directly involved in Pegasus plot’: Assam CM Himanta asks Centre to ban NGO in India

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Alleging that Amnesty International is directly involved in the Pegasus “conspiracy”, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said he would request the Central government to ban the activities of the organisation in India.

    “Amnesty International is directly involved in the Pegasus conspiracy. Various Left-wing organisations throughout the world are a part of the conspiracy. I will request the Government of India to immediately ban the activities of Amnesty International within India,” Sarma told journalists outside the state Assembly.

    He said there were evidences against it in the past but with this recent expose, it was clear that Amnesty could go to any extent to defame India’s democratic fabric.

    He said a certain international media organisation and a news portal of India, which broke the Pegasus story, said Amnesty International was a partner in their project.

    “We all know the role of Amnesty International and its credibility. It is all along encouraging Left-wing terrorism in India. It is working overnight to defame India. This (Pegasus) is a well-designed international conspiracy to defame (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and the Indian parliamentary system and make a deliberate attempt to create dissatisfaction among people,” Sarma said.

    Condemning the “malicious design”, he insisted that the people “involved in the process” should be examined and brought to law. He asked how they could take so many names without any evidence.

    The Assam CM said the names of many people had come into the public domain but none was ready to give his/her phone for a forensic examination.

    “(Congress leader) Rahul Gandhi’s name is also on the list. He could have filed an FIR with his hand device and it could have been examined through a forensic test. If he had done that, he would have known whether or not his phone was hacked. But he said he lost his phone. What does it mean?” Sarma said.

    He slammed the Congress for creating a ruckus in Parliament. Highlighting its past records, he said in response to an RTI application filed in 2013, the then UPA government had said it was doing surveillance over 5,000 phones and 500 email accounts.