Pegasus saga: NCP fears foreign powers may be snooping on India
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Aug, 2021 11:39 AM
Mumbai, Aug 10 (IANS) Throwing a new dimension to the ongoing Pegasus spyware phone-tapping controversy, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) expressed deep apprehensions that some 'foreign powers' may be snooping on the country, here on Tuesday.
Terming it as "a very serious matter", NCP National Spokesperson and Minorities Affairs Minister Nawab Malik in Maharashtra said that the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Centre must issue a proper clarification in Parliament.
"The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said that it has nothing to do with the Pegasus matter. The Centre must make a proper statement in Parliament through some senior minister to the effect that the government has no links with the NSO Group Technologies," Malik urged.
He said that if the Centre's claim was indeed true, then it becomes even more serious as it could point to some foreign powers snooping on the country and its top institutions and individuals.
"The phones of several opposition leaders, Supreme Court judges, Election Commission of India, lawyers, journalists, industrialists have been tapped, but the MoD claims it has no links with Pegasus. Then who is responsible for this," Malik asked.
In view of this, the NCP leader said it was imperative for the Centre to immediately order a probe into the matter to reveal the truth, as the Congress demanded a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.
Malik's comments came a day after the Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt informed the Rajya Sabha that the MoD has not had any transactions with the NSO Group Technologies of Israel, as Parliament deadlock continues with the opposition firm on a debate in the house.
Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Shatrughan Sinha, who joined the Congress recently after switching his loyalty of more than three decades with BJP, is locked in a direct electoral battle with Union Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up Congress President Rahul Gandhi's counsel even after he verbally apologised for incorrectly attributing to the top court his "chowkidar chor hai" remark.
Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside conviction of 15 men held guilty of rioting and arson in a connection with anti-Sikh riots in East Delhi’s Trilokpuri in 1984.
The woman, who appeared once before the committee, comprising Justices SA Bobde, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee, said she felt "quite intimidated and nervous" in the presence of the three judges of the Supreme Court.
Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar’s interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi became a motherlode of memes and comedy, which people on the internet mined assiduously for laughs.
