Congress slams BJP over WhatsApp ‘snooping’ allegation, demands SC probe

The Congress on Thursday hit out at the BJP led Central government over the “flagrant abuse of privacy” and the “snooping, spying and compromising” after WhatsApp said several Indian users had been targetted by Israeli spyware Pegasus earlier this year and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the “blatant illegal hacking” of phones.

Randeep Singh Surjewala, Incharge AICC Communications said, “India woke up today to the bone-chilling news of flagrant abuse of privacy by agencies of the present BJP government.”

“Modus operandi was snooping, spying and compromising the cell phones of journalists, Dalit, political and human right activists, lawyers, academicians and many more through a surveillance software called ‘Pegasus’ of the Israeli Agency, NSO. We suspect that many opposition leaders and judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are in this list,” he said.