The Pegasus spyware scandal is getting bigger and bigger with each passing day. Over the past few days, The Wire, the Washington Post and other media partners in the ‘Pegasus project’ have revealed that the numbers of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, poll strategist Prashant Kishor, two union ministers, Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee and some 40 journalists were selected as potential targets of snooping.
Also, at least 11 of those phone numbers belonged to a former Supreme Court staffer and her family. The woman, whose identity cannot be revealed for legal reasons, had accused former chief justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, of rape in April 2019 and was soon fired from her job. The Congress party on Monday demanded an investigation into the roles of Modi and his closest aide, Home Minister Amit Shah, in the scandal.
On the other hand, the government has completely denied its role in the snooping scandal. There should be a proper investigation into the case. It is a serious case that the country’s top opposition leaders and journalists have been snooped. What is worrying is that many of the opposition leaders were snooped in the run-up to the 2019 general elections. There is every possibility that that the election was compromised. Unless a proper investigation is done by an independent body, the truth might never be revealed.