In Kerala, the Congress and the CPI(M) have welcomed the Supreme Court decision to institute an expert committee probe into the Pegasus mobile phone snooping scandal.
KPCC president K. Sudhakaran, MP, said the verdict was a slap on the face of the Narendra Modi Government's bid to make India a surveillance State.
The BJP had cited national security as a fig leaf to stall the Pegasus inquiry. It had used an intrusive software, sourced at high cost from an Israeli cyber surveillance firm of the same name, to secretly spy on journalists, Opposition leaders, influencers, liberal thinkers, intellectuals and writers.
Mr. Sudhakaran said Union Home Minister Amit Shah was the architect of the electronic phone snooping. It was done under cover of forecasting national security threats and keeping a tab on entities wishing India harm. Mr. Shah had used the software for widespread political espionage.
The Pegasus deal was struck in 2018. It was the fruit of a union between divisive Hindutva and Zionistic agenda. Mr. Modi had embraced Israel as a defence and trading partner. Earlier, India had dealt with Israel with wariness given its militarism and approach to the Palestine question.
The NDA had fended of questions regarding Pegasus and illegal phone tapping in Parliament citing national security. It had used national security as a cover to target persons inimical to Hindutva politics and those the Modi Government viewed as adversaries, both political and intellectual.
If the Prime Minister had any political decency left in him, he should throw Mr. Shah out of the Union Cabinet.
CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas said the Supreme Court had blown the lid of a State-sponsored attempt to intrude on citizens' privacy.
The NDA Government had violated the fundamental right of citizens. It had used military-grade phone tapping software to bend people to the State's will. The Centre had overstepped its constitutional bounds. The government had lost the moral right to continue in office, he said.
