Rahul, IT minister, ex-EC in new Pegasus list, say reports

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa and two sitting Union ministers were among prominent people potentially targeted by Israeli phone hacking software, an international investigative consortium reported on Monday, sparking a political storm on the first day of Parliament’s Monsoon Session.

The investigation named public health experts Gagandeep Kang and M Hari Menon and diplomats from at least five countries as potential targets of Pegasus software manufactured by Israeli firm NSO Group. Also on the list were the woman who accused then chief justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment in 2019 and her relatives, election strategist Prashant Kishor, and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee.

Union information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw – who defended the government in Parliament hours before being named a potential hacking target – and Jal Shakti minister of state Prahlad Singh Patel were the high-profile government names.

The consortium – which comprises 17 media organisations, including The Guardian, The Washington Post, Le Monde and Indian news website The Wire – published on Sunday that 38 Indian journalists, including three current Hindustan Times staffers and one from sister publication Mint, were among 180 journalists potentially targeted worldwide, including Financial Times editor Roula Khalaf, and reporters from the Wall Street Journal, CNN, New York Times, and Le Monde.

To be sure, as the methodology of the investigation explains, the presence of a number does not indicate the individual’s phone was hacked — just that it was of interest. The government denied any involvement.

“Aap Chronology Samajhiye! [Understand the chronology] This is a report by the disrupters for the obstructers. Disrupters are global organisations which do not like India to progress. Obstructers are political players in India who do not want India to progress,” Union home minister Amit Shah said in a statement.

Vaishnaw told Parliament that the allegations were an “attempt to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions”. “Time tested processes in our country are well-established to ensure that unauthorised surveillance does not occur,” he said in his first speech as IT minister in the Lok Sabha. But the Opposition demanded Shah’s removal and a probe into the Prime Minister’s role. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala dubbed the ruling party Bharatiya Jasoos (spy) Party.

“Modi government has used Israeli spyware for spying on political leaders, judges, an election commissioner and even on his own ministerial colleagues. The Modi government has launched an attack on the country,” he said.

The Congress and TMC said they will raise the issue in Parliament on Tuesday.

A highly invasive malware, Pegasus can switch on a target’s phone camera and microphone, as well as access data on the device, effectively turning a phone into a pocket spy. In some cases, it can be installed without the need to trick a user into initiating a download.