Modi govt has been caught snooping, claims Congress

NEW DELHI: Reports of a WhatsApp breach that targeted several Indian activists and journalists saw Congress alleging that the government had been "caught snooping" and the party urged the Supreme Court to hold the Centre accountable over the incidents.
"The government seeking WhatsApp's response on who bought Pegasus (Israeli spyware) to spy on Indian citizens is like Modi asking Dassault who made money on the sale of Rafale jets to India," tweeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is currently out of India on a "meditational visit".
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, "Modi government caught snooping. Appalling but not surprising. After all, BJP government fought against our right to privacy and set up a multi-crore surveillance structure until stopped by the SC. The SC must take immediate cognisance and issue notice to BJP government."
Information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hit back and said Congress should recall the circumstances under which former President Pranab Mukherjee's office was allegedly bugged when he was a minister in the Manmohan Singh government.
Left leaders too criticised the BJP government, with CPI's D Raja saying the Centre must explain how the breach took place.
Surjewala also posted questions on Twitter for Prasad over the issue. "Which agency of GOI has purchased and deployed the Pegasus surveillance software? Who, PMO or NSA, authorised the purchase? What action do you intend on taking against the guilty?" he asked.
Tagging a media report which claimed that 1.3 million Indian payment card details were up for sale on the dark net, Surjewala alleged that "data theft and data fraud" had become the norm since the Modi government came to power. "Is this why Modiji calls data the new oil (for BJP machine?). 1.3 million Indian payment card details are up for sale on dark web, putting the card holders vulnerable to yet another synchronised fraud," he said.
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References

1. ^{^} Pegasus (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
2. ^{^} Randeep Surjewala (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
3. ^{^} Information technology (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
4. ^{^} Ravi Shankar Prasad (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

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