TMC MP Mahua Moitra, who was among the first of the Opposition leaders to claim her phone was being hacked on Tuesday, wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday asking him to seek accountability from “the concerned authorities for flagrant breach of law”. The MP, who will appear before the Ethics Committee of the Parliament on Thursday in the cash-for-query scandal, had announced on Tuesday that she would write to Birla to seek his protection and intervention in the latest snooping controversy. While underlining how she and several other Opposition leaders had received messages from Apple that their iPhones were “being targeted by state-sponsored attackers”, Moitra said, “This threat is doubly shocking in light of the Pegasus software (sold only to governments) that was used to compromise the devices of various members of the Opposition, dissenting journalists and members of civil society during 2019-2021. In spite of the Opposition raising this issue in the House, no debate was allowed and no conclusive report has been filed by any agency.” Moitra said international organisations like Access Now and Citizen Lab had in September 2023 confirmed the validity of Apple’s threat notifications and lent it enormous credibility. She added that in March 2023, reports in the Financial Times stated the Indian government was potentially escalating its budget for spyware contracts to $120 million involving companies like Intellexa Alliance. She said it was featured in a report on government spying called “The Predator Files”. “We are representatives of the Parliament of India, the largest democracy in the world. This illegal surveillance by the government using software available only to state actors, is the worst attack on our fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of our great democracy,” she said. Moitra claimed Opposition MPs and voices of dissent had faced targeted attacks on their democratic freedoms in the past few years. “These include misuse of central agencies and using majoritarian force to repeal, amend and create laws empowering the government to muzzle dissent. Numerous cases of planting - fabricated evidence on communication devices have come to light and innocent citizens have been framed to meet political ends,” she said. Calling Birla the “ultimate parent” to each Lok Sabha MP, Moitra said, “I ask you to immediately provide us the protection required for us to continue doing our duties as a vibrant Opposition which is to question and hold to account the ruling dispensation. I trust you will treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves and seek accountability from the concerned authorities into this flagrant breach of law, Constitutional freedoms, and our rights as Members of Parliament.”
