Shameful attack, says Amarinder on Pegasus spyware scandal
Darpan News Desk IANS, 19 Jul, 2021 10:42 AM
Chandigarh, July 19 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday condemned the alleged hacking of private phones of top political leaders, journalists, businessmen, scientists, constitutional authorities and others as a "shameful attack not just on individual privacy but also on national security" by the BJP-led government at the Centre.
As the Pegasus spyware scandal unravelled within and outside Parliament, he termed it a "shocking assault" on India's democratic polity by the Union government, which had compromised the national security with "this blatantly disgraceful act".
The Chief Minister said that with such snooping, which simply could not have been undertaken by the Israeli company without the Central government's go-ahead, the NDA government had put sensitive information into the hands of various global agencies, governments and organisations with the potential to misuse it against the country.
"This is not only an attack on individual freedom but also on the security of our nation," he said, urging the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the matter and take action against the NDA government.
"The Central government cannot get away with this. They have committed a horrendous sin, and they have to be made to pay for it," said Amarinder Singh, quipping that "nobody has the right to intrude into the lives of its people, leave alone enter their bedrooms, as this government has done".
Terming the developments as part of a pattern of the BJP-led government to "destroy all democratic institutions and stifle the voice of the opposition", he lashed out at the Centre "for the reprehensible act, which has set a new low in India's democratic history".
"No government in any part of the world has ever put the security and safety of its own institutions and people at stake in this manner before," said Amarinder Singh.
He used filthy language with the woman and showed her obscene photos of models on mobile phone on several occasions since October 2017, an official said.
P Chidambaram said that in the 70-year history of the nation, there has never been an example of a state being reduced to a Union Territory and it has always been the opposite.
BJP MP Diya Kumari, a member of the erstwhile Jaipur royal family, claimed on Sunday that her family has descended from Lord Ram's son Kush, days after the Supreme Court sought to know whether anyone from the ''Raghuvansha'' was still residing in Ayodhya.
In what could be yet another historical move, Union Home Minister Amit Shah might airdash to Srinagar to unfurl the Tricolour at Lal Chowk on Independence Day, August 15.
Delhi Airport departure area was immediately evacuated and all passengers were moved at Gate No. 4 at departure level, while arriving passengers were on hold inside aircraft, the officials said.
At the 42nd Annual General Meeting of the company, he said that the company would make a lot of announcements on the developmental initiatives it plans to take in the newly-created Union Territories.
