Days after media reported that Congress former chief Rahul Gandhi’s phone was on a list of potential targets for surveillance using the Israeli spyware Pegasus, Gandhi said that not only all his phones are tapped but his security personnel had been asked to report to their seniors everything he said.
“My phone is tapped. It is clearly tapped, so it is not a potential target,” Gandhi told reporters on Friday.
“It is not only this phone, every single phone of mine is tapped. And let me tell you another thing, I get phone calls from IB people who tap my phone. They call me up and say please be aware that we are tapping your phone. Also, by the way, my security people tell me that they have to debrief what I say and they have to report to their seniors everything I say. So, I am under no pretensions that I am not tapped,” he added.
He went on to say: “This has happened to me three-four times. My friends were called and told to tell Rahul Gandhi that his phones are being tapped.”
Gandhi also said while Israel has classified Pegasus as a “weapon” which is supposed to be used against terrorists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have used this weapon against the “Indian state and against our institutions.”
Gandhi went on to say: “They have used it politically. They have used it in Karnataka. They have used it to scuttle probes, they have used it against the Supreme Court…they have used it against all the institutions of this country, against our democracy. The only word for this is treason. There is no other word for this and this has to be investigated and the Home Minister has to resign…My phone was tapped. But it is not about my privacy….I am an Opposition leader and I give voice to the people and raise their issues. This is an attack against the voice of the people. They used Pegasus to stop the investigation into the Rafale deal…Narendra Modiji has used this weapon against our country.”
Gandhi demanded that the Home Minister should resign and there should be a judicial inquiry.
“Supreme Court inquiry on Narendra Modi because no one else can give authorisation for Pegasus…only the Prime Minister and Home Minister can give authorisation,” he said.
