BJP on Monday launched an all out attack on the Congress and unnamed global organisations for "trying to derail" India's development trajectory through their "conspiracies" as the Pegasus revelations rocked Parliament.
Home Minister Amit Shah saw the Pegasus revelations as an attempt to humiliate India at the world stage, while former IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed there was not a “shred of evidence” to link the alleged snooping of journalists, politicians and activists to either the BJP or the Modi government.
“This is a report by the disrupters for the obstructers. Disrupters are global organisations which do not like India to progress. Obstructers are political players in India who do not want India to progress. People of India are very good at understanding this chronology and connection,” Shah said in a statement.
Shah said the only aim of the report was to humiliate India at the world stage, and peddle the same old narratives about the nation and derail its development trajectory.
Addressing a press conference, Prasad laughed off claims that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was a possible target of the Pegasus snooping.
“Rahul keeps doling out advice on Twitter. After that do you need to know anything more about him?” the former Information Technology Minister said.
Prasad hit out at Amnesty International, which had initial access to a list of 50,000 phone numbers that were identified as people of interest by the clients of Pegasus’ parent company NSO.
“Amnesty International has always had a declared anti-India agenda. It had to withdraw from India when it was asked to furnish details of its foreign funding for activities in India,” Prasad said.
He also brushed aside a question on the Congress’ demands for Home Minister Amit Shah’s resignation and probe against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
With the Congress “shrinking and losing”, the entire row is timed to disrupt Parliament and build a baseless agenda, Prasad said.
He said senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for WhatsApp in the Supreme Court, had even told the court that the popular messaging platform cannot be hacked by software such as Pegasus.