New Delhi: Both Houses of Parliament were briefly adjourned on Tuesday – the Lok Sabha till 2 pm and Rajya Sabha till 12 pm – as opposition parties insisted that the Narendra Modi address allegations raised by the Pegasus Project.
The Project – undertaken by a consortium of 17 global organisations including The Wire – on Monday revealed that several opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, as well as BJP Union ministers were on a leaked list of potential clients of the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. Political strategist Prashant Kishor, who was worked for several parties, was also on the list. The NSO Group has said that it only sells the spyware to “vetted governments”.
Four opposition parties – the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and Communist Party of India (Marxist) – gave notices under Rule 267 in Rajya Sabha. They demanded that scheduled business be suspended to discuss the Pegasus allegations.
In the Lower House, some members of opposition parties held placards against the government accusing it of snooping. Others also demanded the resignations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.
In the Rajya Sabha too, members of opposition parties, who had given as many as 15 notices under rule 267, raised slogans and rushed into the Well of the House, prompting chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu to adjourn the proceedings till 12 noon.
With the chairman disallowing all the 15 notices as he did for the 17 served on Monday, Anand Sharma of the Congress said either the rule 267 should be removed or the Chairman should consider notices given under them as long as it is there in the rule book.
“These are issues of concern. We should not only read about it in newspapers or see on television,” he said.
Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who phone number was also on the list of potential targets but has been defending the government he is a part of, is scheduled to make a statement on the Pegasus allegations in the Rajya Sabha this afternoon.
Opposition party members spoke this morning, NDTV reported, and decided to raise the issue in parliament all day.
After news broke that Gandhi too was a potential target, the Congress released a statement demanding Modi and Shah’s arrest. “This is clearly ‘treason’ and total abdication of ‘national security’ by the Modi government, more so when the foreign company could possibly have access to this data,” the statement said.
Shah attempted to discredit the revelations, saying it was “a report by disrupters for the obstructers”.
Modi on Monday had told opposition leaders that they could ask questions but must allow the government to speak.
“I urge all MPs and political parties to ask the toughest and sharpest of questions but they should also allow the government to respond in a cordial environment as democracy is strengthened by conveying the truth to the people,” Modi said.
Even before the Pegasus allegations were revealed, this session of parliament was likely to have been a combative one, with the opposition and government clashing on farmers’ issues, rising prices and more.
(With PTI inputs)