Modi govt has committed treason: Rahul Gandhi on NYT report on Pegasus

The Congress on Saturday attacked the Centre over a New York Times report which claimed that the Indian government bought the Pegasus spy tool in 2017 as part of a deal with Israel alleging that the government indulged in illegal snooping using the spyware which amounts to treasonAccording to the report in The New York Times the Israeli spyware Pegasus and a missile system were the centerpieces of a roughly USD 2billion deal of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear between India and Israel in 2017Slamming the Centre Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Modi government bought Pegasus to spy on the primary institutions of our democracy leaders and the publicBy tapping phones they have targeted all including the ruling party the opposition the army the judiciary This is treason he said on TwitterThe Modi government has committed treason he alleged in his tweet in HindiLeader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said on Twitter Why did Modi Govt act like the enemies of India and use a warfare weapon against Indian citizens Illegal snooping using Pegasus amounts to treason No one is above the law and we will ensure that justice is served he saidPTI has reached out to the government for a reaction to the NYT report but there was no immediate responseCiting the media report Congress spokesperson Shama Mohammed said this is irrefutable proof that the BJP government used military grade spyware to snoop on the citizens of India including former Congress president Rahul Gandhi There must be accountability she demandedRajya Sabha MP and senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil alleged that the revelations in the report imply that the government misled the Supreme Court and Parliament on the issueWhy narendramodi is silent It is PMOIndias duty to clarify New York Times revelations today that It did indeed subscribe by payment from tax payers money of 300 crores to spyware Pegasus sold by Israeli NSO company he tweetedThis implies our Govt misled Supreme Court amp Parliament Gohil saidYouth Congress chief Srinivas B V also cited the media report and tweeted Hence Proved Chowkidar Hi Jasoos Hai In a tweet Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged the spyware was used not for defence purposes but to snoop on opposition and journalists If there is BJP it is possible They have made the country into a Bigg Boss show she said in a tweet in HindiBJP MP Subramanian Swamy said Modi government must rebut New York Times revelations today that It did indeed subscribe by payment from tax payers money of 300 crores to spyware Pegasus sold by Israeli NSO companyThis implies prima facie our Govt misled Supreme Court and Parliament Watergate he tweeted An international investigative consortium had claimed last year that many people including Indian ministers politicians activists businessmen and journalists were potentially targeted by the NSO Groups phone hacking softwareThe Supreme Court had set up a threemember independent expert panel to probe the alleged use of Pegasus for targeted surveillance in India The government had denied all allegations made against it in the matterThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever