New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed on Thursday, August 25, that the opposition’s attack on the government over the Pegasus issue was all part of a “motivated campaign” aimed at weakening Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to The Hindu, BJP MP and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the Congress should oppose the BJP through elections and not through “motivated campaigns” after the Supreme Court-appointed panel probing the unauthorised use of Pegasus found ‘malware’ in five out of the 29 devices submitted to it.
Interestingly, the bench also noted that the Union government “did not cooperate” with the expert committee led by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice R.V. Raveendran. It also said that the committee found no conclusive proof of whether Pegasus was the malware used in the examined phones.
“If you want to oppose us, then do that in elections. But there you are losing one election after another… and their defeat will continue in the coming days as well,” said Prasad.
“Rahul Gandhi had said Pegasus is an attempt to crush democracy,” he said.
“It is not in Rahul Gandhi’s nature to apologise,” he said, adding that the opposition leader had levelled charges like treason against the prime minister for alleged surveillance of his colleagues and opposition leaders using Pegasus.
“What happened when he ran the ‘Chowkidar…’ campaign? I can’t even utter what he said. Our politics is not low-level politics,” he added.
He further said that the Pegasus row was only an addition to the campaign against Prime Minister Modi over Rafale, and the construction of the Central Vista.
“Opposition parties, so-called intellectuals, some NGOs and a section of the media ran a sustained campaign against the government,” he told a press conference.
‘Concerns over government’s non-cooperation in probe’
On the other hand, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi pointed to Supreme Court’s observation that the Union government “did not cooperate” in the Pegasus probe.
“The prime minister and his government’s non-cooperation with the SC-appointed committee is an acceptance that they had something deeper to hide and want to crush democracy,” Gandhi said in a tweet.
PM and his govt’s non-cooperation with the SC appointed committee is an acceptance that they had something deeper to hide and want to crush democracy. #Pegasus
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 25, 2022
MP John Brittas of the Communist Marxist Party of India (Marxist) also underscored several concerns after the Pegasus investigation committee’s report was published.
He wrote on his Facebook page in Malayalam, “The committee has confirmed the access to citizens’ privacy. The committee has informed the Supreme Court that the presence of spy software was found in five of the 29 phones inspected. Even if it is not clear whether Pegasus is a cyber weapon, the above discovery is critical.”
He further said, “A more shocking statement has come from the Supreme Court that the Union government did not cooperate with the Supreme Court committee. If you read between the lines, one thing will be understood – cyber weapons have been widely used to neutralise political rivals and undermine democracy. Let’s wait and see what happens when Chief Justice Ramana retires.”
Separately, Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh alleged that the government by its action (by not cooperating) had made it clear that it used the Israeli spyware to weaken democracy.
“Everybody knows this weapon was used and it dented democracy. This weapon is against the law and Constitution. How can they [government] give the answer? Sometimes not giving an answer is also an answer, the government has made it clear (by not giving answers) that they used Pegasus against democracy,” he said at a press conference at the All India Congress Committee headquarters in New Delhi.
“I hope the Supreme Court will treat this not giving of an answer as an answer and take strict action against the government in this matter. We have been asking from day one why did the government use Pegasus and under what law,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)