“If true, the Modi government seems to have launched a grave and sinister attack on the Right to Privacy,” Priyanka Gandhi said
Calling the revelations about Project Pegasus in India abhorrent, the Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday accused the Narendra Modi-led Central government of carrying out a grave and sinister attack on the Right to Privacy.
Priyanka Gandhi took to micro-blogging site Twitter and wrote, “The Pegasus revelations are abhorrent. If true, the Modi government seems to have launched a grave and sinister attack on the Right to Privacy – constitutionally guaranteed to Indian citizens as a Fundamental Right.”
“This is an affront to democracy and has ominous implications for our freedoms,” Priyanka Gandhi added further.
Also, the Congress party has called BJP as Bharatiya Jasoos Party and demanded an impartial probe into the revelations.
“If revelations by the Pegasus Project are true, the all-out attack on our democracy & freedoms by the Modi govt is nothing short of treason. India will not only resist but will completely reject their illegal & deplorable act,” the Congress party said.
The party went on to state, “India demands a thorough investigation into the revelations by the Pegasus Project and nothing short of strong & stringent actions against those responsible is acceptable.”
Pertinently, the Pegasus Project, a consortium of 17 organisations from across the world, has revealed how governments in various parts of the world, including India, may have been using spyware developed by the Israeli company NSO Group to gain access to citizens’ phones and other devices.
The numbers on a leaked list of potential targets of Pegasus clients includes human rights defenders, journalists, politicians, businesspersons and others.
Meanwhile, United Nations Humans Rights chief Michelle Bachelet has issued a statement on the revelations brought forth.
“Revelations regarding the apparent widespread use of the Pegasus software to spy on journalists, human rights defenders, politicians and others in a variety of countries are extremely alarming, and seem to confirm some of the worst fears about the potential misuse of surveillance technology to illegally undermine people’s human rights,” Bachelet said in a statement.
Bachelet added, “These reports also confirm the urgent need to better regulate the sale, transfer and use of surveillance technology and ensure strict oversight and authorisation. Without human rights-compliant regulatory frameworks there are simply too many risks that these tools will be abused to intimidate critics and silence dissent.”