Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the Central Government of using the Pegasus software to spy on the opponents. He also alleged that all his phone calls were tapped and that his security men had been asked to report on everything he said. He also demanded a court-monitored inquiry, which was rejected by the government.
My phone was tapped. It’s not a matter of Rahul Gandhi’s privacy. I’m an opposition leader, I raise the voices of people. This is an attack on the voices of the people. Home Minister should resign & there should be a Supreme Court inquiry against Narendra Modi, said Rahul Gandhi on Pegasus
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, poll strategist Prashant Kishor, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, two union ministers – Ashwini Vaishnaw, Prahlad Singh Patel, and former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa a former CBI chief, a virologist, and 40 journalists are on the list of 300 phones from India. It is not established, however, that all the phones were hacked.
Gandhi claimed he had been told by security personnel that his conversations were monitored.
I get phone calls from IB (Intelligence Bureau) people who tap my phone. They say your phone is being tapped. My security people tell me they have to debrief what I say. I am in no pretensions that I am tapped, he said, adding that even his friends received calls informing them that phones were tapped.
I am not afraid. I don’t get intimidated. In this country, if you are corrupt and a thief, you will be afraid. If you are neither of those, you have nothing to be afraid of, he said.
Not only this, Gandhi went on to say only a government can buy Pegasus. The Prime Minister’s signature, or at least the Home Minister’s signature, is needed for it. The military of a nation cannot buy Pegasus.
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However, the government has denied opposition allegations of snooping and has denied any role amid daily revelations of potential targets.
In other India news, Delhi police have arrested a 21-year-old man for blackmailing women from South Asian countries.