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‘Not afraid of phone tapping’: Rahul Gandhi targets govt over Apple’s warning
Rahul Gandhi said the government thinks they can control the angst of the young people of India, but old weapons of political communication are more effective.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government over Apple’s warning to a number of Opposition leaders about ‘state-sponsored attackers’ trying to ‘remotely compromise’ their iPhones and said that they are not afraid of phone tapping.
“All Opposition leaders get notice that said ‘Apple believes you are being targeted by state sponsored attackers’. All guys in our office got it. KC Venugopal, Pawan Khera, Sitaram Yechury, Priyanka Chaturvedi TS Singh Deo, Mahua Moitra, Raghav Chaddha got the same notice... You can tap (phones) as much as you want. I don’t care. If you want, I can give my phone to you. We are not afraid. We are fighting,” Gandhi said at a press conference in Delhi.
Gandhi also claimed that the Modi government’s “soul” is in the hands of the Adani Group. He claimed Adani is above Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah and reiterated his allegations that “the PM works for Adani”. “BJP govt and the BJP’s financial system is directly linked with Adani,” he added.
He narrated a story about a king’s power remained with a caged parrot and said, “For a long time, all Opposition parties were attacking the king. But the reality is power lies in the hands of Adani. Whenever we touch Adani—intelligence agencies. snooping, CBI will come.”
“There are examples. Mumbai airport was owned by somebody else. State-sponsored agencies attack the owner. He surrenders the airport to Mr. Adani. No CBI, ED enquiry into over-invoicing of coals. Who’s paying for it? When we use electricity or travel on trails, we give Adani tax. The wealth of Indian people is stolen. The young people of India are being divided, they are upset and angry while Adani takes away the wealth,” Gandhi said.
“These people think they can control technology and thereby control the angst of the young people of India. But remember, old weapons of (political communication) are more effective,” he added referring to his Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Gandhi clarified that he has no personal issues with the Adani Group but added that he is opposed to the creation of “monopolies such as Adani Group.”
“I have ideas to change the Adani government. I am defending the idea of India. This is not just about winning an election. I am confident you will see the results,” Gandhi said.
There was no immediate reaction from the Adani Group.
Earlier in the day, a number of leaders from the Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and some journalists claimed that they had received emails from Apple warning them that state-sponsored attackers were potentially remotely trying to compromise the iPhones associated with their IDs.
Apple said it does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker. “State-sponsored attackers are very well-funded and sophisticated, and their attacks evolve over time. Detecting such attacks relies on threat intelligence signals that are often imperfect and incomplete,” it said in a statement.
Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw dismissed the Opposition’s claims that the government had engaged in attempts to compromise their phones.
“There are many compulsive critics in our country. Their one and only job is to criticise the government as and when they wake up, as and when they find an opportunity. You must have all seen the advisory issued by Apple. This is a vague advisory. It is based on certain estimations that they have done. Apple has already clarified that their encryption system is of highest possible order. They have also clarified and issued a statement saying that this kind of advisory has been issued in 150 countries,” he said.
