‘2 prominent Assam leaders were on snoop list pre-CAA’

AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharjee (in white). Pic/Twitter

Among the mobile numbers allegedly targeted for surveillance using Pegasus spyware, two belonged to prominent political figures in Assam - All Assam Students Union's (AASU) chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharjee and Anup Chetia who is leader of the pro-talks faction of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), according to The Wire.

Both of them were targeted before the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was passed in December 2019. They were both against the Union government's plan to amend the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), meant to pave the way for Bangladeshi Hindu migrants in Assam to get Indian nationality.

The Centre on July 16, 2019, appointed Bhattacharjee as a member of a ‘high-level committee' reconstituted to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which reads: "Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards...shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people." His phone number was added to the list barely a month before the Centre announced formation of the Clause Six committee. According to the report, the Centre took him onboard the committee, because it was advised against ignoring AASU leaders. Chetia's phone number was targeted for snooping in late 2018 and remained on the list till the end of 2019 general polls. Then the general secretary of the ULFA (Progressive), he had threatened to withdraw from peace talks between the ULFA and the Centre if the Centre did not scrap CAB.

"A technical examination of a phone's data can establish whether an attempt to hack or successful compromise by the spyware took place. The mere presence of a number on the list only indicates that the person was a possible candidate for surveillance," The Wire wrote in the report.

Also read: Pegasus spyware issue: Rahul Gandhi, Ashwini Vaishnaw potential targets; Prashant Kishor's phone hacked

‘Modi govt wants surveillance state'

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accused the Modi government of trying to establish a "surveillance state", and pitched for Opposition unity to oust the "authoritarian" BJP government in the Lok Sabha polls. She also asked the Supreme Court to take cognisance of the snooping scandal that targeted activists, politicians, journalists and judges. "BJP wants to convert a democratic country into a surveillance state rather than a welfare state," she said, adding that the Centre is spending the money collected through tax on fuel and other commodities for spying.

‘Par panel to start questioning govt officials'

A parliamentary panel on IT headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is likely to question top government officials, including from Home Ministry, next week on allegations related to phone tapping of many using Pegasus spyware, sources said on Wednesday. The 32-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT headed by Tharoor, which has maximum members from the BJP, is scheduled to meet on July 28. The agenda of the meeting is ‘Citizens' data security and privacy', according to the notification issued by Lok Sabha Secretariat. The panel has summoned officials from the Ministry of Electronics, IT and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

2019
Year [in December] the CAA was passed

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