Modi govt hijacked democracy, deceived Parliament, duped SC: Cong on Pegasus row

A protest in New Delhi on Saturday after an NYT report said that India bought Pegasus from Israel. Pic/PTI

The Congress on Saturday launched an all-out attack on the government, accusing it of deceiving Parliament, duping the Supreme Court, hijacking democracy and indulging in treason, after a media report claimed India bought the Pegasus spyware from Israel as part of a defence deal in 2017. The Congress said it intends to raise the issue in the Budget session starting next week and will demand accountability from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government on the floor of the Parliament.

The principal Opposition party also urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the matter and initiate appropriate penal proceedings against the government for attempting to deliberately and knowingly "deceive" it. The shadow of the Pegasus issue looms large again over the 2022 budget session as the entire Monsoon session of 2021 was washed out after the Opposition had jointly stalled the proceedings over the issue.

According to a report in The New York Times, the Israeli spyware Pegasus and a missile system were the "centerpieces" of a roughly USD 2-billion deal of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear between India and Israel in 2017. "The Modi Government bought Pegasus to spy on our primary democratic institutions, politicians and public. Government functionaries, Opposition leaders, armed forces, judiciary all were targeted by these phone tappings. This is treason," Rahul Gandhi said on Twitter.

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