Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday categorically denied a magazine (Outlook) report that government agencies were eavesdropping on phone conversations of several political leaders including Sharad Pawar, Prakash Karat, Digvijay Singh and Nitish Kumar.
Chidambaram read out his statement in the Lok Sabha amidst deafening uproar from Opposition demanding the Prime Minister to speak on the issue, with leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee saying that the PM was busy in a luncheon meeting with Afghan President and would be ready to come to the House at 3.30 pm.
Chidambaram said, the NTRO was a tehnical organization set up in April 2004. “I wish to state categorically that no telephone tapping or eavesdropping has been done either by the previous UPA government or the present government”, he said.
The Home Minister said, nothing has been found out in the charges made in the magazine report. “We are fully accountable to the Parliament under the Telegraph Act and any phonetapping can be done only with the approval of the Union Home Secretary”, he added. Such phone-tapping is done to fight crime and to protect national security, he pointed out. Further inquiry is under way, he said.
A united Opposition on Monday forced the adjournment of both the Houses of the Parliament over the alleged tapping of telephones of some senior politicians by the government.
Question Hour was stalled in both Houses when Opposition members were on their feet protesting against alleged tapping of phones by the government and wanted immediate clarification.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani, who was allowed by Speaker Meira Kumar to speak, said nothing less than statement from the Prime Minister on the issue would be acceptable.
Advani recalled a press conference held on June 25, 1985 to mark 10 years of Emergency in which Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke about phone tapping of leaders like Chandrashekhar, Jagjivan Ram, Charan Singh and journalists like Kuldeep Nayyar and Arun Shourie. He demanded that a law should be passed to prevent the government from tapping phones.
In the Rajya Sabha, a united Opposition sought to corner the government over allegations of telephone tapping of ministers and senior political leaders, stalling proceedings of the Upper House.
Members from the BJP, Left, AIADMK, JD(U) and SP did not allow Question Hour and legislative business in the house, shouting slogans and seeking response from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the controversy.
When the House met at 1230 pm after two adjournments, Home Minister P Chidambaram read out a statement, amidst din by Opposition, saying the allegations of telephone tapping are not found to be substantiated. The main Opposition BJP demanded a probe by the Joint Parliamentary Committee into the allegations and shouted slogans. However, members of BSP, which appears to be with the government over Opposition sponsored cut motions on the Finance Bill, remained seated.
Judging the unrelenting mood of the Opposition parties, Deputy Chairman K Rehman Khan, adjourned the House for the day after it witnessed uproar for a few minutes.
The BJP, which gave a notice for suspension of Question Hour, began to protest immediately after nominated member B Jayashree took oath when the House met for the day.
Chairman Hamid Ansari said the Government would make a statement and pleaded with the Opposition parties to allow the Question Hour to proceed. However, he was forced to adjourn the proceedings till noon.
Similar scenes of protests were seen when the House reassembled. Senior BJP leader M Venkiah Naidu said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should make a statement as the issue is very serious. "Telephones of cabinet ministers, chief ministers and political leaders are being tapped....What is happening to the country," he said.
After the House saw stalling of proceedings twice till 1230 PM, Deputy Chairman adjourned it for the day. PTI
