Pegasus row: From Rahul Gandhi to Asaduddin Owaisi, who said what

We know what he's been reading, said Rahul Gandhi

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday targeted the government over the Pegasus issue, saying that people now know that "he reads everything on your phone" while senior BJP Subramanian Swamy asked Home Minister Amit Shah to come clean on whether or not snooping happened.

Taking on to Twitter, Rahul said, "We know what he's been reading- everything on your phone! #Pegasus." He tagged his earlier post where he asked people what they were reading.

Swamy tweeted, "It will be sensible if the Home Minister tells Parliament that Modi government has nor had any involvement with the Israeli company which tapped and taped our telephones. Otherwise like Watergate truth will trickle out and hurt BJP by halal route."

The CPI(M) was also critical of the government saying the "criminal illegal snooping (has been) exposed".

Read more: 50,000 phone numbers worldwide on list linked to spyware Pegasus

"Use of surveillance and spyware against a range of citizens in India exposed. NSO the Israeli company supplier of Pegasus spyware states that its clients are only governments and their agencies. Modi government has to answer who is responsible for this illegal criminal snooping," the CPI(M) tweeted.

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi tweeted, "#Pegasus use is hacking, not “authorised interception” or tapping. Hacking is a crime, whether it’s done by individuals or govt. Govt has to expressly disclose or deny only 2 things: 1 Did you use NSO spyware or not? 2 Did you target specific people named in news reports?"

He added, "NSO, which owns #Pegasus has repeatedly clarified that it sells its services to “vetted governments” alone. This is why, GOI has to disclose if it availed these services & the people who were targeted."

Congress leader Milind Deora said, " Exactly 8 years ago, I launched India’s first National Cyber Security Policy. The policy envisaged a strong privacy law to protect Indians from unlawful hackers — state, non-state, foreign & domestic. With zero safeguards in place, we are more vulnerable than we think. Several MPs, including AAP's Sanjay Singh, Revolutionary Socialist Party's NK Premachandran and CPI's Binoy Viswam, also submitted notices in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seeking suspension of day's business to discuss the Pegasus issue."

At least 40 journalists and around a dozen activists, including the Bhima Koregaon case accused, have figured in a leaked list of potential targets for surveillance using hacking software 'Pegasus' sold by the Israeli surveillance company NSO Group.

The leaked database contains around 300 verified Indian mobile telephone numbers including those of ministers, Opposition leaders, the legal community, businessmen, government officials, scientists, rights activists and others, The Wire reported on Sunday night.