PunjabChief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday condemned the hacking ofprivate phones of top political leaders, journalists, businessmen, scientists,constitutional authorities and others as a shameful attack not just onindividual privacy but also on national security by the BJP-led government atthe Centre.
As thePegasus spyware scandal unravelled within and outside Parliament, the ChiefMinister termed it a shocking assault on India’s democratic polity by the UnionGovernment, which had compromised national security with this blatantlydisgraceful act.
The ChiefMinister said that with such snooping, which simply could not have beenundertaken by the Israeli company without the central government’s go-ahead,the NDA government had put sensitive information into the hands of variousglobal agencies, governments and organisations with the potential to misuse itagainst the country.
“This isnot only an attack on individual freedom but also on the security of ournation,” he said, urging the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of thematter and take action against the NDA government. “The Central Government cannotget away with this. They have committed a horrendous sin, and they have to bemade to pay for it,” said Captain Amarinder, quipping that “nobody has theright to intrude into the lives of its people, leave alone enter theirbedrooms, as this Government has done.”
Terming thedevelopments as part of a pattern of the BJP-led Government of India to destroyall democratic institutions and stifle the voice of the opposition, the ChiefMinister lashed out at the central government for the reprehensible act, “whichhas set a new low in India’s democratic history.”
“Nogovernment in any part of the world has ever put the security and safety of itsown institutions and people at stake in this manner before,” said CaptainAmarinder, adding that there appeared to be a global conspiracy to targetIndia, of which the NDA government was clearly an appalling part.