The Congress on Monday revived the fears of a Pegasus-like attack on people’s freedom by asking whether the Narendra Modi government was planning to acquire new spyware from the Israeli multinational company Cognyte ahead of the 2024 general election.
The new spyware is supposed to be an alternative to the Pegasus spyware. It is designed to intercept calls, view text messages and web traffic, including emails, and track the locations of users without the assistance of telecom and Internet firms. Cognyte also makes tools for data analysis and operational intelligence analysis.
Recent reports have suggested that Cognyte is selling its equipment in India. The Financial Times reported that the Indian government was seeking bids from spyware companies that rival the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, and Cognyte was one of the firms under consideration.
Allegations have been levelled that Pegasus was used to snoop on journalists, political rivals, judges, officials and ministers.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera on Monday said: “After snooping on political leaders and others for 2019 elections with the Pegasus, is the Modi government planning a repeat act in 2024 with the new spyware from Cognyte? Which ministry has issued the RFP (request for proposal) for the new spyware? Who has ordered the purchase of the spyware? What is the cost of the spyware?”
Claiming that the instrument will come for Rs 986 crore, Khera said: “The two spies — Modi and Shah — have a track record of snooping on all kinds of people from their Gujarat days.”
Khera added: "They have built a political empire based on fear and lies and it will collapse if the truth comes out. That’s why they mount surveillance on everybody. We will also support the purchase of the new software if it is able to find out who the Rs 20,000 crore invested in Adani group through shell companies belong to.”
Recalling how the BJP used Cambridge Analytica, Pegasus and Israeli hackers led by Team Jorge to manipulate democratic processes, Khera said: “Isn’t it true another spyware called Predator, owned by a Greek firm, is also under consideration?”
He also recalled how the Supreme Court observed that the Modi government did not cooperate with the investigation on the Pegasus spyware, refusing to answer the simple question in the Parliament and outside whether it had purchased the software or not.
On Cognyte, an American law firm has said: “Cognyte regularly targeted journalists, dissidents, critics of authoritarian regimes, families of Opposition, and human rights activists around the world without their knowledge and collected intelligence inputs on these people by manipulating them to reveal information and/or by compromising their devices and accounts.”