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Rahul became a target as he raised issues uncomfortable to Centre: Congress

Congress held a nation-wide protest against the alleged snooping by the government
Last Updated 22 July 2021, 18:07 IST

Pegasus is the new Congress 'astra' to corner the government even as the BJP said the story on the alleged snooping through Israeli spyware Pegasus is "concocted, fabricated and evidence-less".

With Rahul Gandhi's name among those having been potentially snooped on, the grand old party is portraying that he is a "target" for raising issues uncomfortable to the government.

Pradesh Congress Committees in over a dozen states held a protest march to Raj Bhavans, seeking an impartial Supreme Court-monitored enquiry into the episode and demanding the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah over the alleged illegal phone surveillance.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Chaudhary Anil Kumar on Wednesday demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the matter while claiming that Rahul became a "target" of the ruling government as he has been constantly "raising uncomfortable issues" such as corruption in the Rafale deal, ongoing farmers' agitation and mismanagement of the Covid pandemic. Haryana PCC chief Kumari Selja also made the same claim.

UP Congress attempted to take out a silent march and submit a memorandum against the alleged spying on Gandhi.

Marches and protests were held at Jammu, Jaipur, Kolkata, Vijayawada, Patna, Ranchi, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Raipur, Lucknow and Dehradun.

The party has also been organising press conferences in all PCCs to register protest and highlight the issue in the media in the last two days.

Gandhi himself sought to amplify the message of the alleged snooping with tweets like, "We know what he’s been reading- everything on your phone! #Pegasus". A gleaning of the statements of agitating Congress leaders give an inkling of how Congress is seeking to build a nationwide campaign around it and also use it to burnish the image of its leader, Rahul.

"There is tremendous outrage amongst Congress leaders and workers against the report of the tapping of phones of former Congress President Rahul Gandhi," the AICC said.

The party, which has frequently been targeted by the BJP dispensation on clamping the rights of the Press during Emergency, has also highlighted how journalists are also on the snooping list and also hit out at the government on the issue of the IT raid on Dainik Bhaskar. Rahul also tweeted with the hashtag #RaidOnFreePress saying that "writing the truth on paper with ink is enough to frighten a weak government".

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(Published 22 July 2021, 17:25 IST)

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