Even as Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said that there is “no substance” in the media report regarding the use of Pegasus on WhatsApp, and that the report was an attempt to “malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions”, Home Minister Amit Shah, while deliberating on the start of the monsoon session of Parliament, questioned the timing of the Pegasus leak. Alleging that the report was timed to cause disruptions in Parliament, he even used a phrase his critics have often used to target him: “Aap chronology samjhiye (understand the chronology).”
Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, the Home Minister said that the people of India have high hopes from the current monsoon session and that key bills for the welfare of farmers, youngsters, women, and the backward sections of the society shall be taken up for discussion by the government, but national parties like the Congress are amplifying the Pegasus leaks which came to the fore a day before the parliament session to derail anything progressive that comes up in Parliament.
“Just a few days ago, the Council of Ministers was expanded with great emphasis given to women, SC, ST, and OBC members. But there are forces unable to digest this. They also 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? What pleasure do they get to time and again show India in a bad light?” Amit Shah was quoted saying.
“The facts and sequence of events are for the entire nation to see. Today the monsoon session of Parliament has started. 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,” said the Union Minister in a statement. “No less than the Prime Minister said that the government is ready to discuss all topics,” he said.
Shah also slammed Congress and said the Opposition party has a good past experience in trampling over democracy. “To see the rudderless Congress, jump on to this bandwagon is not unexpected. 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,” he said. He noted that when the Prime Minister rose in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to introduce his Council of Ministers, which is a well-established norm, the Congress-led Opposition was in the well of both the Houses. “Is this their respect for Parliamentary norms?” he questioned and added that the Opposition’s same behaviour continued when the IT Minister was speaking about the Pegasus issue.
“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! 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 good at understanding this chronology and connection,” said the Minister.
He further assured the people of India that ‘national welfare’ is the priority of the Modi government’s and added the government will keep working to achieve that “no matter what happens.”
Speaking in Lok Sabha, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that it can’t be a coincidence that the report appeared a day before the commencement of the monsoon session of Parliament. “A highly sensational story was published by a web portal last night. Many over-the-top allegations were made around this story. The press reports appeared a day before the monsoon session of Parliament. This can’t be a coincidence,” said the Minister about the Pegasus project.
He said that in the past too, similar claims were made regarding the use of Pegasus on WhatsApp and those reports too had no factual basis and were denied by all parties. “Press reports of July 18 also appear to be an attempt to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions,” Vaishnaw said.
The minister said that any form of illegal surveillance isn’t possible with “checks and balances in our laws and robust institutions”.
“In India, there’s a well-established procedure through which lawful interception of electronic communication is carried out for purpose of national security. Requests for lawful interceptions of electronic communication are made as per relevant rules under provisions of Sec 5(2) of Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and Sec 69 of Information Technology Act 2000. Each case of interception is approved by the competent authority,” he assured. Vaishnaw added that when the issue is looked through the ‘prism of logic’, “it clearly emerges that there is no substance, whatsoever, behind this sensationalism”.
WITH AGENCY INPUTS