Uppingthe ante against the government, former Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi on Fridaydescribed Pegasus as a weapon and demanded resignation of Union Home MinisterAmit Shah.
Healso demanded a Supreme Court probe against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressingthe media outside Parliament, Rahul Gandhi said, "Pegasus is classified bythe Israeli State as a weapon and that weapon is supposed to be used againstthe terrorist. The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and Union Home Minister haveused this weapon against the Indian State and against our institutions."
Healleged that the government used it politically. "They have used it inKarnataka, they have used it to scuttle probes, they have used it against theSupreme Court and against all the institutions of this country," healleged.
Targetingthe government, Rahul Gandhi said, "The only word for this is treason.There is no other word for this."
"Andthis has to be investigated and the Home Minister has to resign," theCongress leader demanded.
Healso accused the Prime Minister of using this (Pegasus) weapon against thepeople of the country and also to scuttle the probe of Rafale fighter jet deal.
TheCongress leader also said that "they tapped my phone". "This isnot about my privacy, not about the privacy of Rahul Gandhi. I am an oppositionleader and I raise issues of public. This is an attack on that. This is anattack on the voice of the people," he said.
Hesaid: "A judicial enquiry and SC enquiry should be ordered on NarendraModi because no one else can authorise Pegasus. This authorisation can only bedone by the Prime Minister and the Home Minister."
Thealleged snooping issue has triggered a stormy start to the Monsoon Sessionafter a global collaborative investigative project revealed that Israelicompany NSO Groups' Pegasus spyware was targeted over 300 mobile phone numbersin India, including that of two ministers in the Narendra Modi government,three Opposition leaders, constitutional authority, several journalist andbusiness persons.
Itsnowballed on Tuesday after it came to fore that in July 2019, phone numbers ofKarnataka's then Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara and the personalsecretaries of then Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and former Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah, were selected as possible targets for surveillance.
TheCongress on Monday accused the government of "treason" and held Shahresponsible for the snooping and hacking of phones of journalists, judges andpoliticians, and demanded a probe.
BJPleader and former IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned the credentials ofthose behind the story as well as its timing, coming a day before Parliament'sMonsoon Session that began on Monday, as he accused the opposition party ofhitting a "new low" in making baseless allegations.