Lagatar Desk: The Washington Post has released the next list in the Pegasus phone tape case. According to this, the names of many leaders including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, election strategist Prashant Kishor, IT and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhijit Banerjee, Union Minister Prahlad, former Chief Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa are in the list of this phone tape. It is noteworthy that Pegasus Software is an Israeli company. This company sells software only to the government and government agencies. However, the Indian government has denied the use of this software.
After the arrival of the latest list, there has been a sensation in the political circles. Congress has demanded an immediate inquiry. Earlier on Sunday night, the Washington Post released the first list. In which it was said that the phones of more than 40 journalists of the country were being tapped. There was a tremendous uproar in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha today regarding this issue. The opposition is demanding a probe.
IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav from the ruling party, while replying in the Rajya Sabha, said that the government has no hand in this matter. He also said that there is nothing wrong with this. After which the commotion intensified. But after a few hours, his name also appeared in the list that came out.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, election strategist Prashant Kishor and two ministers have also been targeted by the phone hacking company. The name Ashwini Vaishnav has appeared in these ministers. According to the report of The Wire, the leaked data includes 300 Indian mobile numbers, of which 40 mobile numbers belong to Indian journalists. Apart from these, there are three big opposition leaders, two central ministers in the Modi government, current, former heads of security agencies and officials, businessmen. It was also told in the report that these numbers were targeted from the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to 2018-2019.
The Pegasus company has clearly told the Washington Post that it sells mobile phone hacking software only to the government. It is not yet clear which country’s government has used Pegasus software to hack the phones of Indian politicians, journalists, judges and people associated with bureaucracy. But the work of hacking the phone has been done before the Lok Sabha elections. With this, the needle of suspicion is turning towards the central government.
