• Friday, March 29, 2024

HEADLINE STORY

Pegasus row: India opposition wants Modi probed, Shah sacked

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah (Photo by PRAKASH SINGH/AFP via Getty Images)

By: Shubham Ghosh

THE Indian National Congress, India’s main opposition party, on Monday (19) went on an all-out attack against the Narendra Modi government over the Pegasus snooping allegations. It accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of treason and compromising national security after reports came out saying Israeli software Pegasus was used to spy on people. It also demanded the dismissal of Union home minister Amit Shah and also an investigation against prime minister Modi.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who was among the first to target the Modi government over the issue, also mocked the ruling party as Bharatiya Jasoos Party (Indian spy party).

ALSO READ: What you need to know about Pegasus snooping row

Amit Shah hits back

However, the ruling party’s leadership was in an equally combative mood. Referring to the reports of using Pegasus to hack phones of Indian journalists, activists and even ministers, Shah questioned the timing of such leaks. According to him, global disrupters were behind the episode and obstructors based in India helped them.

Modi, Amit Shah should clarify Pegasus allegations: Former BJP ally Shiv Sena

“People have often associated this phrase with me in a lighter vein but today I want to seriously say that the timing of the selective leaks, the disruptions… aap chronology samajhiye (understand the chronology) This is a report by the disrupters for the obstructers. Disrupters are global organisations that do not like India to progress. Obstructers are political players in India who do not want India to progress. People of India are very good at understanding this chronology and connection,” Shah said in a statement.

“In what seemed like a perfect cue, late last evening we saw a report which has been amplified by a few sections with only one aim – to do whatever is possible and humiliate India at the world stage, peddle the same old narratives about our nation and derail India’s development trajectory,” he said. Monday was the first day of the monsoon session of the parliament and it was largely disrupted because of ruckus.

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