'PM Modi should break silence on Pegasus snooping row,' demands Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram demanded on Sunday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi make a statement in Parliament on Pegasus snooping allegations and clarify whether there was surveillance or not. He said the government should either call for a joint parliamentary committee probe or request the Supreme Court to appoint a sitting judge to investigate the matter.

The former home minister said he was not sure if one could say that the entire electoral mandate of 2019 was vitiated by the "unlawful snooping" but added that it may have "helped" the BJP to score the victory which has been "tainted" by the allegations.

In an interview with PTI, Chidambaram also said a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe can be more effective than an investigation by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, as the former would be more empowered by Parliament.

"The parliamentary committee rules are rather strict. For example, they cannot take evidence openly but a JPC can be empowered by Parliament to take evidence in public view, to cross-examine witnesses, and to summon documents. So I think a JPC will have far more powers than a parliamentary committee," he said.

Last Sunday, an international media consortium reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers, including two ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders besides scores of businesspersons and activists in India, could have been targeted for hacking through the Pegasus spyware of the Israeli firm NSO. The government has been denying all Opposition allegations in the matter.

'Ashwini Vaishnaw a very clever minister': Chidambaram

Reacting to the government's response, Chidambaram said IT and Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw "is obviously a very clever minister and therefore his statement in the Parliament was very cleverly worded".

"He (Vaishnaw) denies that there was any unauthorized surveillance. He does not deny that there was surveillance. He does not deny that there was authorized surveillance. Surely the minister knows the difference between authorized and unauthorized surveillance," the Congress leader said.

Posing questions for the government, he asked whether there was surveillance at all and whether Pegasus was used for the purpose. "If Pegasus spyware was used, who acquired it? Was it acquired by the government or by one of its agencies," he enquired.

The Rajya Sabha member also asked the government to come clean on the amount paid to acquire the spyware. He aids the matter also raises issues of national security, because if the government says that it did not conduct surveillance, then the question arises of who conducted the snooping.

Chidambaram said the government should request either Parliament to constitute a JPC or it should request the Supreme Court to spare an honourable judge to conduct the investigation.

Asked about Home Minister Amit Shah's assertion that the allegations were aimed at humiliating India on the world stage, Chidambaram said the home minister did not deny that there was surveillance.

"He (Shah) does not deny that a certain number of telephones in India were hacked using Pegasus software. So, in fact, rather than what the home minister said, what he did not say is more important," he said.

If the home minister is unable to categorically deny that Indian telephones were infiltrated by the spyware, then obviously he must take responsibility for this "scandal" happening under his watch, Chidambaram said.

'PM Modi should give a statement'

The Congress leader also said that PM Modi should have made a statement on the first day of Parliament's Monsoon Session itself when the allegations came to the fore. "There are only a few agencies which could have done this surveillance. All the agencies are under the prime minister's control," he said.

"Each minister knows only what is under his department. The PM knows what is happening in all departments. So, it is the prime minister who should come forward and say whether there was surveillance or not and if there was surveillance whether it was authorized or not," Chidambaram said.

(With inputs from agency)