Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday, 19 June, slammed the publication of reports on the Pegasus spyware controversy as well as the Opposition’s disruption in Parliament on the first day of the Monsoon Session, saying, “This is a report by the disrupters for the obstructers.”
“People have often associated this phrase with me in lighter vein but today I want to seriously say – the timing of the selective leaks, the disruptions… aap chronology samajhiye (understand the chronology)!"Home Minister Amit Shah
"This is a report by the disruptors for the obstructers," Shah said in a statement posted on his website.
"Disruptors are global organisations which do not like India to progress. Obstructers are political players in India who do not want India to progress,” he added.
The report on the Pegasus spyware row, he said, has been amplified by a few with the aim of humiliating the country at the world stage, peddling old narratives and derailing its development trajectory.
Bid to Derail 'India's Development Trajectory,' Claims Home Minister
Further, claiming that facts and sequence of the events are for the nation to see, the home minister pointed out that Parliament’s Monsoon Session began on Monday, a day after the report came out.
“In what seemed like a perfect cue, late last evening we saw a report which has been amplified by a few sections with only one aim - to do whatever is possible and humiliate India at the world stage, peddle the same old narratives about our nation and derail India’s development trajectory.”Home Minister Amit Shah
He further alleged that “there are forces” that are not able to “digest” the fact that the Council of Ministers was recently expanded with “great emphasis given to women, SC, ST and OBC members,” and that the said forces “want to derail national progress.”
“This merits the question – to whose tune are these people dancing, who want to keep showing India in poor light?” Shah asked.
Thereby, he went on to hit out at the Congress, dubbing the party “rudderless” and claiming that it is expected that they “jump on to this bandwagon.”
The home minister further said: “They have good past experience in trampling over democracy and with their own house not in order, they are now trying to derail anything progressive that comes up in Parliament.”
The 'Pegasus' Reports
A report published by The Wire on Sunday had revealed that Israel-made spyware Pegasus was believed to have been used to snoop on at least 300 Indian phone numbers, including those of over 40 senior journalists, Opposition leaders, government officials, ministers and rights activists.
Some prominent names on the list of the spyware's 'potential targets' include Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, BJP ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Prahlad Singh Patel, the staffer who accused ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment, and Hindustan Time executive editor Shishir Gupta.
Reportedly, it was reported that poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s phone may have also been infected.
The leaked list of names was provided to The Wire and 15 other international news organisations by France-based media non-profit, Forbidden Stories, and Amnesty International, as part of a collaborative investigation called the 'Pegasus Project'.
(With inputs from The Wire)
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