Dharmendra Pradhan calls TMC MP's snatch & throw act a reaction to 'Pegasus hoax failure'

Shocked by the unruly atmosphere of the Parliament, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday asserted that the entire episode of the Trinamool Congress MP Shantanu Sen snatching the statement paper from the Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, was nothing but an indication that 'the truth' has blown away the 'Pegasus hoax', created by-who he referred to as 'Agenda Jeevis'. 

The Minister, taking to his official Twitter handle, accused the Opposition of concocting stories like the Pegasus Project report to make to the headlines after losing in the elections. Pointing out that it was all done in desperation, he added that such acts that 'malign our nation's image will make sure today’s opposition remains in the opposition'.

Day 4 of the Monsoon session kickstarted on a rather dramatic note with Leaders of the Opposition raising slogans over a gamut of issues, including the 'Pegasus Project' report. If Opposition leaders would have stopped just there, it would have still been fine but things turned for the worse when Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw rose in the Rajya Sabha to give a clarification on the snooping claims. Even before Vaishnaw could begin speaking, Trinamool Congress MP Shantanu Sen, as is seen in the video, snatched his papers, tore, and flung them at Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh, taking everyone by surprise. 

NSO Group issues 'last statement' on Pegasus report

The uproar of the Opposition in the Pegasus row comes despite the makers of the software, the NSO Group time and again refuting all claims.  In what it referred to as the 'last statement' in the matter, the Israeli-based firm reiterated that the numbers in the list are not related to the NSO group. It added that any claim that a name in the list is related to a Pegasus target or Pegasus potential target is 'erroneous and false'. 

The list being referred to allegedly contained 50,000 phone numbers which has been linked to snooping using Pegasus, from which certain numbers purportedly belonged to persons- including  40 journalists, three major opposition figures, one constitutional authority, two serving cabinet ministers, current and former heads, and officials of security organizations and businessmen in India. This kicked up controversy within and outside the Parliament, with the government calling it nothing but a case of 'sensationalism'.