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Even junior copy-writer will not copy Rahul Gandhi's phone contents: BJP

Rahul said that Pegasus is classified by the Israeli state as a weapon and that weapon is to be used against terrorists
Last Updated 23 July 2021, 16:51 IST

Amid the ongoing political row over the Pegasus spyware, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi alleged that his phone is being tapped, prompting the BJP to dare him to submit his phone for investigation if he believes so.

"My phone was tapped. This is not the issue of my privacy. This is not an issue of Rahul Gandhi's privacy. I am the Leader of Opposition, I raise the voice of the people. This is an attack on that. This is an attack on the voice of the people," Gandhi said.

On being asked if his phone was a potential target, the Congress leader said, "No, no, it is not a potential target, my phone is tapped. It is clearly tapped, so it is not a potential target. It is not only this phone, every single phone of mine is tapped. And let me tell you another thing, I get phone calls from IB people, who tapped my phone. Okay. They call me up and say please beware that I am tapping your phone. By the way my security people tell me that they have to debrief what I say, they have to report to their seniors everything I say. So I am under no pretensions that I am not tapped," he said speaking to reporters.

BJP spokesperson Rajyavardhan Rathore, however, asserted that no one's phone has been tapped illegally by the Modi government and took a swipe at Gandhi, saying even a junior copywriter will not be interested in copying his phone's content as the Congress leader has nothing original to offer.

"If anyone has any doubt that some agency is doing it illegally, then he can complain and lawful action will be taken. We will now wait for Rahul Gandhi to deposit his phone for investigation to proceed," he said.

Training his guns on the government on the alleged snooping of politicians, journalists, industrialists and others, Gandhi, meanwhile said, "The issue is not whether Anil Ambani's phone was tapped. The issue is the entire Indian state is under attack...this is not an attack on Rahul Gandhi. This is an attack on individuals. This is an attack on Indian states."

He said that Pegasus is classified by the Israeli state as a weapon and that weapon is to be used against terrorists.

"The Prime Minister and the Home Minister have used this weapon against the Indian state and our institutions. They have used it politically. They have used it in Karnataka. They have used it to scuttle probes. They have used it against all the institutions of the country. The only word for this is treason and this has to be investigated and the Home Minister has to resign," Gandhi said.

Congress leader P Chidambaram tweeted, "On the scale of freedom, rank India against a liberal democracy like France and a stern democracy like Israel. France orders an investigation and calls a meeting of its National Security Council. Israel established a commission to review the allegations of phone surveillance. India denied that there was any unauthorised surveillance and refused to even debate the matter."

Opposition MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, DMK's Kanimozhi and Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi on Friday protested against the government inside Parliament complex over the snooping issue, carrying a banner which read "#PegasusSnoopGate We demand Supreme Court Monitored Judicial Probe", the MPs raised slogans like "ye jasoosi bandh karo (stop this spying)".

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(Published 23 July 2021, 16:47 IST)

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