Rahul Gandhi Attacks Government On WhatsApp Snooping Row; Brings In Rafale Reference

Gandhi said the government asking WhatsApp about 'Pegasus' was like Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking Dassault Aviation on who made money on the sale of Rafale jets to India.

(Image: PTI)

New Delhi: Congress on Thursday trained guns at the Centre over the alleged WhatsApp snooping of journalists and human rights activists, with former party president Rahul Gandhi comparing the situation to Rafale row. Gandhi said the government asking WhatsApp about 'Pegasus' was like Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking Dassault Aviation on who made money on the sale of Rafale jets to India. "The Government seeking WhatsApp's response on who bought Pegasus to spy on Indian citizens, is like Modi asking Dassault who made money on the sale of RAFALE jets to India," he tweeted. Congress party has alleged that the Modi government has been caught snooping and demanded a Supreme-Court monitored probe into the “illegal hacking” of cell phones. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said India woke up today to a bone-chilling news of "flagrant abuse" of privacy by agencies of the present BJP government Surjewala said his party suspects that even judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, besides many opposition leaders, have been snooped upon. As Facebook-owned WhatsApp sued Israeli cyber intelligence company NSO Group this week that exploited its video calling system to snoop on 1,400 selected users globally, details emerged on Thursday that there were "insignificant number" of Indian human rights activists and journalists among those who were targeted.