Pegasus snooping allegations: Won’t be surprised if CM’s phone is tapped, says Sanjay Raut

Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Raut on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah must come forward and clarify on the alleged snooping of prominent people in the country through Israeli spyware Pegasus

Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Raut on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah must come forward and clarify on the alleged snooping of prominent people in the country through Israeli spyware Pegasus. Raut added that this incident was the “biggest threat to the freedom on this country”.

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The Rajya Sabha MP and party’s chief spokesperson said there is an atmosphere of fear among the people and that several sections of people including politicians, journalists, editors have been living under shadow of fear for the past several years.

He said that phone calls of over 1,500 prominent people from the country, including serving ministers, editors, leaders, some chief ministers, were tapped. “Still, names of many people whose phones were tapped are yet to come out. Mainly, journalists’ and editors’ phones were tapped this time around, and this is serious. For the past several years, politicians, journalists and editors are living under a shadow of fear that they are being watched and phones are being tapped. The PM and home minister must come forward to address the issue and clarify on it. If foreign apps are used to tap phones of prominent people then it is the biggest threat to the freedom in this country,” Raut said in New Delhi.

International media on Sunday reported that more than 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including that of two serving ministers, more than 40 journalists, three opposition leaders, activists in India could have been targeted for hacking through the Israeli spyware which is sold only to government agencies. The government, however, dismissed allegations of any kind of surveillance on its part on specific people, saying it “has no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever”.

Raut said such incidents of snooping are a sign of a weak government. “This is a sign that the country’s government and its administration are weak. We do not have stringent cybercrime law and therefore, anybody wakes up and taps our phones. Similarly, the government is not confronting these issues; therefore, there is an atmosphere of fear among the people,” he said.

When asked if Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s phone was also tapped, Raut said, “I do not have the full list of the people whose phones were tapped. But I will not be surprised if the phone of Maharashtra CM was also tapped.”