WhatsApp issue: 13 Opp. parties seek to meet Prez

Joint protests against farm distress, slowdown

New Delhi: Thirteen Opposition parties on Monday signed a joint memorandum to be submitted to President Ram Nath Kovind on the “WhatsApp snoopgate” controversy. Though the leaders have already sought time from the President to submit the memorandum, they are yet to get an appointment, sources told this newspaper.

Thirteen Opposition parties Monday signed a joint memorandum to be submitted to President Ramnath Kovind on the “WhatsApp snoopgate” controversy.

Although the leaders have already sought time from the President to submit the memorandum, they are yet to get an appointment, sources told this newspaper.

The memorandum against snooping was signed at a meeting of Opposition parties held in the capital Monday, where they also decided to jointly protest issues such as the economic slowdown, RCEP, farm distress and unemployment during the upcoming Parliament session.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said that the Opposition parties will meet again soon to discuss the issue of snooping and decide on the future course of action against the same.

Allegations of snooping

started doing the rounds of political corridors after Facebook-owned WhatsApp accused the Israelbased NSO Group of using spyware called “Pegasus” to target over 1,400 WhatsApp users, a few of them based in India.

As per the instant messaging app, the spyware targeted victims by giving missed calls on their mobile phones.

The Congress revved up the debate by claiming that party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s phone, too, was hacked.

Among those who attended the meeting included Mr Azad; Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Randeep Surjewala and Rajiv Shukla; RLSP chief and former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha; CPI general secretary D.Raja; CPI(M)’s T.K. Rangarajan; RJD’s Manoj Jha; TMC’s Nadeem ul Haque; DMK’s T.R. Baalu; and RLD’s Ajit Singh and Sharad Yadav.

Among the Opposition parties conspicuous by their absence at the meeting were the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Aam Aadmi Party.

The discussions focused on the joint Opposition’s strategy to corner the government on poor economic indicators and India’s decision to consider signing the RCEP.

The leaders decided to meet again to thrash out a strategy to take on the government both inside and outside Parliament.

Mr Azad later told the media that the parties had decided to hold individual-level protests at the block and district levels, and come together only later for a joint national protest. However, no date was announced for the joint protest, which would be held during the Parliament session beginning November 18.