The Congress on Thursday iterated its demand for an investigation into the Pegasus snooping row, describing the Supreme Court’s decision to set up a “technical committee” to look into the matter as a step in the right direction.
Party communications chief Randeep Surjewala tweeted: “Pegasus spy scandal is not an issue to protect ‘national security’ but an assault on ‘national security & privacy’ by Narendra Modi Government. The solution is simple: A Supreme Court-monitored full investigation. The Supreme Court observation of setting up a ‘technical committee’ is a right step in this direction.”
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said: “As far as the Supreme Court is concerned, I would want to react to it solely based on what I have read in media reports, watched on TV channels…. What happened with the Pegasus snooping scandal was the greatest threat to national security. A probe into this will ensure that national security is never compromised.
“Please understand, who were the people snooped upon? It was not just political opponents, they were people in constitutional positions. They were people associated with the Chief Justice of India. They were people associated with the Election Commission.”
Shrinate added: “These are very, very serious allegations. The reality is that snooping was done on people who were in elected positions of power (ministers), which also compromises the Official Secrets Act, and there was never a bigger compromise with national security than Pegasus.
“There has to be a full-fledged probe under the supervision of the Supreme Court. Anything less than that is not going to be satisfactory.”
Former finance minister P. Chidambaram referred to the drug seizure at the Adani-operated Mundra port in Gujarat and tweeted: “The seizure of over 3,000kg of heroin is unprecedented and points to a major crime syndicate operating freely in India. The same accused are reported to have successfully ‘imported’ a large quantity in June 2021 and got away with it. An import of this magnitude could not be attempted by anyone without official patronage at a high level. Why are the Prime Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister silent on the incident?”
The Congress had demanded an enquiry under the monitoring of the Supreme Court in this issue as well.
The government has so far not commented on the drug seizure.