Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 21: Amidst flying accusations between the ruling and the opposition parties and a call for opposition unity against the BJP to “save the country,” the Standing Committee on Information Technology, headed by senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, has fixed July 28 to deliberate on the alleged use of Pegasus spyware on some 300 persons in India including politicians, judges, activists and journalists. Officials of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy), the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Department of Telecommunications have been summoned to depose on the subject, “citizens’ data security and privacy.”
The committee has had several rounds of meeting on the subject. It was deliberated in two meetings held in November 2019. The panel has not submitted a report so far because all investigation remained inconclusive. The government has neither confirmed nor denied the involvement in the snooping episode targetting activists in 2019.
“The latest revelations show that it is a more serious situation. Does the government have access to Pegasus or not is the key question,” one of the members said.
Calling upon the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the spyware row, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asked all political parties in the Opposition to form a united front against the BJP without any delay. Earlier, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath had also called for Supreme Court intervention for the Pegasus inquiry.
“Why can’t the Supreme Court take suo motu cognisance when judges’ phones are tapped? Either take suo motu cognisance or set up an SIT [special investigation team] monitored by you.… Only the judiciary can save democracy,” Banerjee said.
Addressing the annual Matryrs’ Day rally in Kolkata, which was telecast live across several States, including Delhi, the Trinamool Congress chairperson urged leaders of the Opposition parties to form a front against the BJP at the earliest.
“We have to come together; we must forget our individual interests and come together to save the country. To work together, we must form a front without any delay,” Banerjee said.
The Trinamool Congress chairperson said she will be visiting New Delhi later this month and added she would be happy to attend any meeting of Opposition leaders between July 26 and 29.
“I also want to meet important leaders… Chidambaramji [Congress leader P. Chidambaram] will be there, Sharadji [NCP chairperson Sharad Pawar] will be there, I am ready to attend any meeting between July 26 and 29,” she said.
Banerjee is due to visit Delhi after two years on July 25. The Chief Minister urged leaders of the Opposition parties not to go soft on the Pegasus spyware case and launch a joint movement on the issue.
“The general elections are still two-and-a-half years away, but nothing will be achieved if we form an alliance just before elections,” she emphasised.
Banerjee thanked leaders of the Opposition such as Pawar and Supriya Sule of the NCP, Chidambaram and Digvijaya Singh of the Congress, Ram Gopal Yadav and Jaya Bachchan of the Samajwadi Party, Tiruchi Siva of the DMK, K. Keshav Rao of the TRS, Manoj Jha of the RJD and Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena, who were present at the Constitutional Club in New Delhi, where her speech was telecast live.
The Chief Minister, who spoke in Bengali as well as Hindi and English, came down heavily on the BJP government over the Pegasus spyware row. She said her phone was tapped and displayed her cell phone with tapes on the phone camera.
“I have put plaster on my camera, GOI should be plastered out,” she said, showing her cell phone.
“I cannot talk to Chidambaramji, Sharad Pawarji because my phone is tapped, cannot talk to Delhi CM, Telangana CM or any other CM… what is Pegasus?” she asked.
During the speech, Banerjee repeatedly said “Pegasus is dangerous.” She said the Centre was indulging in “spygiri [surveillance]” as even the phones of Union Ministers were tapped.
“Spygiri is going on and BJP has bulldozed our federal structure. Phones of ministers and judges are being tapped. They have finished the democratic structure. Pegasus captured the election process, the judiciary, ministers and media houses. Instead of a democratic state, they want to convert it into a surveillance state…You are paying too much money for spying. We should also plaster the Centre, otherwise our country will get destroyed,” She said.
Banerjee said the BJP was a “high-load virus” party and blamed the Prime Minister for the “monumental failure” in handling the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. She also thanked the people of the State for electing her to power for a third term and said that “Bengal was the model State” for the country, not Gujarat.
The Martyrs’ Day rally on July 21 is the Trinamool’s flagship annual political event which draws massive numbers to the heart of the city for the keynote address by the party chief. The day is observed to commemorate the 13 West Bengal Youth Congress workers who were killed in police firing during a demonstration led by Mamata, then a firebrand Youth Congress leader, on July 21, 1993.
Pegasus spyware issue disrupted the Parliament proceedings right from the opening day of the monsoon session on Monday with the opposition lawmakers demanding an urgent debate over the alleged targeting by Israeli spyware Pegasus of politicians, journalists, and constitutional authorities
Issues such as surveillance and phone tapping have been raised in Parliament earlier as well. In responses to parliamentary questions over alleged illegal phone tapping, the governments including the present one, have maintained that there have only been lawful interceptions.
The current government has since 2014 repeatedly cited Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, saying it allows for interception “in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with the foreign States, or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of an offense.”
In response to Asaduddin Owaisi’s question on alleged unlawful surveillance in 2019, Ravi Shankar Prasad, the then electronics and information technology minister, had told Lok Sabha that the allegations were part of attempts “to malign the government.” Prasad had dismissed the allegations as “completely misleading.”
In February 2021, Lok Sabha member Maneka Gandhi asked the government whether it had found the presence of Pegasus spyware in the country or has it launched an investigation into the use or sale of any spyware on surveillance in the country. Sanjay Dhotre, the then minister of state for electronics and information technology responded by saying there is no such information available with the government.
Rajya Sabha member Ravi Prakash Sharma in November 2019 sought to know the number of cases of phone tapping authorised in 2018 and 2019 and the steps taken to check unauthorised and illegal phone tapping. In response, then minister of state for home affairs G Kishan Reddy gave no details about authorised phone tapping. He insisted no illegal tapping has taken place. Thus “no question arises” about steps the government has to take to check unauthorised and illegal phone tapping, he added.
In 2015, Parliament member Vishnu Dayal Ram asked the government about the strength of the surveillance agencies. He also sought details of specific organisations of government engaged in surveillance.
Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary, the then minister of state for home affairs, responded saying the assessment of the strength of security and intelligence agencies in the country is a continuous process. He refused to name such agencies of surveillance. Chaudhary had said details in this regard cannot be disclosed in the interest of national security.
In July 2015, the government told Parliament that “the present regime appears to be adequate and currently there is no proposal to bring out any new regulatory framework for lawful interception.”
Following the 2019 WhatsApp breach using Pegasus, the government told Parliament that it is working on the Personal Data Protection Bill to safeguard the privacy of citizens. The bill was tabled in Lok Sabha in December 2019 and was later referred to a parliamentary panel for a review.
In March 2015, the government said it intercepts calls “in unavoidable circumstances”. It added for this, the order may be issued by an officer, not below the rank of joint secretary, who has been duly authorised by the Union home secretary. The government said a provision that in remote areas or for operational reasons, where obtaining of prior direction for interception of message or class of messages is not feasible, the required interception of any message shall be carried out with the approval of the head or second officer of the authorised security agency at the central level and at least inspector general of police at the state level.
The government added on average, 5,000 interception orders per month are issued by the Union home secretary on the requests by law enforcement agencies.
Trinamool Congress lawmaker Derek O’Brien said his party will not allow Parliament to run until the government holds an open discussion on Pegasus. “The government tries to do politics with Covid. We do not want discussion on farmers. Repeal farm laws and tomorrow discuss Pegasus or TMC’s position is that there will be no more Parliament (proceedings) till August 13.”
Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor said if the government has been engaged in snooping, it needs to give an explanation. “If they say, they have not done it, then it is a more serious national security concern as some other governments might have done it since NSO (whose spyware Pegasus enables the remote surveillance of smartphones) only caters to vetted governments.”
Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut has sought a joint parliamentary probe on the issue.
The government has again maintained the country has well-established processes to check unauthorised surveillance.