Do you expect me to tell what tech I'm using against terrorists: Meenakshi Lekhi on Pegasus row

Lekhi said that the onus of proving the veracity of the Pegasus revelations was with those levelling them and not the government

Amid demands from the opposition to come clear on the Pegasus revelations, BJP on Thursday wondered how the opposition expected the Modi government to place classified documents in the public domain.

“When I have to deal with terrorists, leftists and maoists, do you expect me to tell you what software I am using,” BJP spokesperson and Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi said responding to a question at a press conference.

“These are classified documents. Will classified documents be placed in the public domain with a sticker on it so that people can find a way around it,” Lekhi asked.

The BJP spokesperson said that the onus of proving the veracity of the Pegasus revelations was with those levelling them and not the government.

Read | Pegasus snooping story 'concocted, fabricated, evidence-less: BJP

“How can we give evidence? Onus is on the person who made the list. Onus is not on me,” she said.

Lekhi claimed that the story on the alleged snooping through Israeli spyware Pegasus was “concocted, fabricated and evidence-less” and that the news reports based on it call for "defamation".

She cited reports to claim that Amnesty International, the human rights group associated with Pegasus Project, has denied the existence of a list of potential targets of the alleged snooping.

The “fake” list is like a collection of mobile numbers drawn from yellow pages and those have been used for “yellow journalism”, Lekhi said.

Also Read | No substance in Pegasus snooping allegation: IT Minister Vaishnaw

Amnesty International, however, said in a statement that it “categorically stands” by the findings of the Pegasus Project and asserted that the data is irrefutably linked to potential targets of Israel-based NSO Group's Pegasus spyware.

Lekhi claimed that the Pegasus row was linked to the Personal Data Protection Bill, which was set to become the law of the land soon.

“Data protection is going to become the law of the and this is directly related to that. This is to undermine Indian institutions that such kinds of stories are being floated,” she said.

The government is creating a “new ecosystem” to secure the data and rights of Indians, and the row is meant to damage it, she added.

“These kinds of stories are floated to undermine Indian institutions and stop data protection that is set to become the law of the land. This is to desensitize the public about the credibility of the structures and to malign the image of our country," Lekhi alleged.