Claiming that Intelligence Bureau officers had told him that his phone was being tapped, Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused PM Narendra Modi of treason for snooping on the opposition and institutions, drawing a strong riposte from the saffron party which demanded that the Congress MP hand over his phone to the investigating agencies so that a proper investigation could be conducted.
Rahul reiterated his demand that home minister Amit Shah be removed from the Cabinet and a Supreme Court inquiry be conducted against the PM.
“I get phone calls from IB people who tap my phone and they tell me we are tapping your phone. My security people tell me that they have to debrief to their seniors what I say. So, I am under no illusion that my phone is not tapped,” he said. Rahul quipped that only those who are “thieves or corrupt will get scared of Narendra Modi”.
“Pegasus is classified by the Israeli State as a weapon and that weapon is supposed to be used against terrorists. The Prime Minister and the Home Minister have used this weapon against the Indian State,” he said.
“They have used it politically, they have used in Karnataka, they have used to scuttle probes, they have used it against the Supreme Court, against all the institutions. The only word for this is treason. There is no other word for this and the Home Minister should resign,” Rahul said.
Talking about his phone being tapped, he said it was not just about the breach of his privacy but an attack on the people whose voices he raises.
He claimed the Government used the spyware against the Supreme Court as well as the former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director (Alok Verma) when a case was about to be registered in the Rafale deal.
“I have said very clearly that there has been gross theft in Rafale. For whatever reason, none of you people supported me. But truth has a way of coming out. There is an inquiry in France and the Prime Minister himself is responsible for corruption in Rafale,” he said.
“The real question is why on the last minute when the CBI Director was about to file an FIR, why was his phone tapped and why was he blackmailed? And who did it? That’s the real question,” said Rahul Gandhi.
Meanwhile, BJP’s National spokesperson and former I & B Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore told newspersons that Rahul should submit his phone to probe agency, and investigation will take place as per the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Congress cannot accept the country’s development and has been stalling Parliament’s functioning often on one pretext or another, he alleged.
Rathore said the Congress was determined to stall Parliament for one reason or another after being rejected twice by people in Lok Sabha polls of 2014 and 2019.
