Opinion An end to the manufactured Pegasus scandal

The Supreme Court has brought the curtains down on the Pegasus controversy and what has once again come to the fore is the irrelevance of the Congress party and the Gandhi family

With the Supreme Court ruling that privacy is a fundamental right of every citizen, the Narendra Modi government is formulating a comprehensive framework to ensure data protection and privacy to protect citizens in the current digital age.

Anand Bose

August 29, 2022 08:26 AM IST First published on: Aug 29, 2022 at 04:30 AM IST

With the Supreme Court-appointed Committee rubbishing the Congress’s charges of the government spying on individuals using Pegasus, a spyware developed by Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO Group, the truth is finally out. The truth is that Congress, its leader Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leaders once again tried to create a false narrative against the Narendra Modi government and sully India’s reputation globally.

The Committee, supervised by retired Supreme Court judge, R V Raveendran, did not find any definitive proof of the use of Pegasus, thus absolving the government of the charges of spying made by a consortium comprising the Congress party and a section of the Opposition, dubious global and Indian NGOs, biased media houses and so-called civil rights activists.

The entire episode once again points towards a well-hatched controversy against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the central government. The Pegasus issue is nothing but an extension of the tirade against the prime minister, which the nation has been witnessing since 2014.

Deeply disturbed by the growing popularity of PM Modi and the continued electoral successes of the BJP, the Congress party has been trying to derail India’s growth story, and defame India on various international fora. By repeatedly disturbing the proceedings of Parliament using fake narratives and falsehood, the Congress party has been indulging in impropriety, trying to demean our rich democratic heritage.

The Congress party and its leaders have a history in this regard. An example of this is the Rafale deal, which Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party tried to scuttle to hurt India’s defence preparedness.

Similarly, we saw Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party casting aspersions and creating confusion over the “Made in India” Covid-19 vaccines. During Congress rule, it used to take years for vaccines to reach India, and no efforts were made to develop indigenous capabilities for creating life-saving vaccines.

The Congress should remember its past. It should not forget how the UPA government tapped phones and watched email accounts and that its Home Minister was accused of bugging the office of another senior Congress minister. Who can forget the 2013 Prism phone spying controversy by a foreign government in which the then Congress government did nothing to protect Indian citizens?

Explained | The findings of the Pegasus committee

More recently, the Congress government in Rajasthan was involved in a phone tapping controversy. Congress has a long history of infringing on people’s privacy and freedom. This is the true character of the party and its leaders.

Now contrast this with the efforts of the Narendra Modi government to protect the rights of Indian consumers in the digital age. The BJP government has strengthened consumer rights in many areas. With the Supreme Court ruling that privacy is a fundamental right of every citizen, the Narendra Modi government is formulating a comprehensive framework to ensure data protection and privacy to protect citizens in the current digital age.

The Supreme Court has brought the curtains down on the manufactured Pegasus controversy and what has once again come to the fore is the irrelevance of the Congress party and the Gandhi family. The Congress has failed to come to terms with the growing popularity of PM Modi and the BJP cementing its position as the world’s largest political organisation. Rahul Gandhi is desperate as senior Congress leaders are deserting the party by the hour.

But the question is: Will Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party apologise to the nation for disrupting Parliament, breaking the trust of the people and misleading the nation, yet again?

The writer is a former chief secretary of Kerala