RADIA, PEGASUS AND BEYOND

Why has the Pegasus snooping scandal not created the same amount of buzz as the Radia tapes? Well, the obvious reason is that the Radia tapes actually had transcripts of alleged conversations (later, some were found to have been manipulated by FBI forensic experts). The Pegasus list so far is just that, a list of names alleged to have been snooped upon but no transcripts of conversations that took place. The second reason of course is that unlike the BJP which played up the Radia tapes to the hilt alleging that UPA was one big nexus of corrupt Luytens’ Delhi “privilegentia” that fixed ministerial appointments, the Congress has not been able to get the same kind of mileage out of the Pegasus list. Even though the firm that owns Pegasus NSO has confirmed that it sells its snoopware to only governments or vetted government agencies. That does give rise to a concern that if the snoopware was misused against Indians and it wasn’t by our own people then surely the Government of India should be worried as to which enemy state was spying on us? The fact that the only denial so far has been that there was no ‘unauthorised’ use of the snoopware has not reassured those whose names are on the list.

But already the government has moved on to other business. And so has the rest of Parliament, including the Congress. Rahul Gandhi, for one, does feel that the issue needs to be played up; he is leading from the front on this one, holding an impromptu press meet outside Parliament to highlight his concerns. But others in his party feel that the issue is not emotive enough to reverberate outside the capital. There is a feeling that everyone does it so what is so new about the Modi government doing the same, if indeed it did deploy the snoopware as is being claimed. Even if this was the case that “every government” has done this in the past, it has had a catastrophic impact on some of the governments accused. From R.K. Hegde to Chandrasekhar, several leaders lost their governments on such allegations. Even the UPA was affected by Radia tapes. But from the Opposition’s point of view, the Pegasus allegations have failed to make a dent on the Modi government. This has led a rethink within the Congress on whether to stay on the issue or raise something more emotive such as the economy, rising fuel prices and the contentious farm bills. This had Rahul Gandhi driving a tractor to Parliament to protest against the farm bills as well.

The issues raised by the Pegasus revelations are grave enough to have the French and Israeli governments institute an inquiry. What if they turn up something awkward for the current government? Will the government be under global pressure to react, for unlike the Radia tapes this is not confined within India›s borders? While the Pegasus scandal may not have the impact the Opposition would have been hoping for, the last word on this is not out yet.