Pegasus row: The Union Minister for I&B Anurag Thakur lashed out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his recent statement on 'Pegasus' matter at the University of Cambridge.
"Rahul Gandhi is again doing this work of hue and cry on foreign soil. Pegasus is in his mind. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, respect for India increased across the world and big leaders are saying it. Rahul Gandhi should listen to what Italian PM said about PM Modi," said Union Minister Anurag Thakur.
"Yesterday's (election) result show that Congress has been wiped once again. Congress is not able to accept people's mandate and the yesterday's result show that people trust PM Modi," Anurag Thakur added.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi during his lecture on Thursday at the prestigious University of Cambridge mentioned the Pegasus row that created a political stir in India a couple of months ago.
Rahul said, "Large number of poltical leaders have Pegasus on their phone. I myself had Pegasus on my phone. I have been called by intelligence officers who say please be careful of what you say on the phone as we are recording the stuff." "Cases are registered against Opposition. I have got a number of criminal cases registered against me for the things which shouldn't be under criminal cases," he added.
As Opposition, it is very difficult to communicate with people when you have this type of an assault on media and on the democratic architecture, Gandhi furer stated.
Keshav Prasad Maurya on Rahul Gandhi statement:
Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya also reacted on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's statement and said that he has tarnished image of India on foreign soil.
Supreme Court on Pegasus spyware row:
The Supreme Court in August 2022 said the technical panel appointed by it to probe the unauthorised use of Pegasus found some malware in five mobile phones out of the 29 examined but it could not be concluded that it was due to the Israeli spyware. After perusing the report submitted by former apex court Justice RV Raveendran, Chief Justice NV Ramana also noted that the Central government did not cooperate with the Pegasus probe.
The top court had ordered a probe into the allegations of the use of Israeli spyware by government agencies for targeted surveillance of politicians, journalists and activists and appointed technical and supervisory committees to look into the Pegasus row after an international media consortium last year reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets.
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